Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships
by ice princess deluxe
Summary: Like a bad gil piece, she just can't get rid of him. After four years apart, Gippal comes to her with an offer she can't refuse.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships

Rating: G

Words: 3,526

Challenges: grease, lace, whisper and strand(s), sand, kiss

Summary: After four years apart, he comes to her with a proposition.

General disclaimer: Rikku, Gippal, or Spira don't belong to me. Property of Square-Enix. Lina is my own character though.

* * *

_Great. The one time he decides to show up, I look like crap, _Rikku angrily thought, trying her best to ignore the temptation of swiping at her already dirty face with equally dirty hands. Like a bad gil piece, Gippal had an innate talent for popping up when she least expected him. Being up to her elbows in machine parts was not the most ideal situation she wanted to greet her once-crush in. She thought that she'd be safe here; he'd never shown any interest in coming back to the desert in years. 

She couldn't see him from her work station, but she recognized the laid back, easy drawl of his voice. She grit her teeth – just hearing him again was enough to make her arms break out in gooseflesh, even in the sweltering heat of the workshop. Four years hadn't changed it much, but there were tiny differences; it had a deeper pitch than he had at eighteen and there was a more authoritarian sound to his words, like honey slathered over steel. He was talking with some of the other technicians, laughing as if they were old buddies. She guessed that they might be, what with people coming and going from Bikanel to Djose whenever they wanted. Not that _she_ had. She'd been far too busy with her own projects. There was Home that had needed to be rebuilt, a cousin newly turned mother to visit, spheres that weren't going to hunt themselves, and a vast assortment of other things that took precedence over stopping at a certain temple-turned-faction base.

At least, that's what she always told herself. The honest truth would be that she couldn't stand to see Gippal flirt with other women while she stood there at his side, forever cast into the role of the friend; the girl that was always good for a laugh. Each smile, each gesture that wasn't meant for her cut her just a little bit deeper as the days went by. So one day she just stopped dropping in. She kept in touch with him via the commsphere network for a few months, but then even those slowly became few and far between until she stopped them altogether. She backed away, as if she'd never been a part of his life to begin with. It was better for her that way. She could get over him.

She hadn't done a very good job of that though. Sure, she dated a few men, and they had all been very nice, but they never made her nervous or tingly the way that he had made her feel. _Guess I'm not destined for that sort of thing,_ she thought, going back to tinkering with the engine she was working on. _My story might not have romance, but it's still mine to tell._ Maybe if she kept her back to him, he'd overlook her. She'd changed somewhat since the last time he'd seen her; maybe he wouldn't recognize her.

No such luck. A tall shadow fell over her workstation. "Hey there, Cid's girl." Her fingers slipped and she let out a quiet curse as her knuckles scraped against engine parts hard enough to split skin.

She took a deep breath before straightening out. Wiping her hands on a nearby rag, she tried her best to appear calm and collected. "I have a name."

oOoOo

Gippal hadn't known what to expect when he got off the hover at New Home. The name wasn't all that original, but the building under constant construction was pretty impressive. The feel of the hot sun at his back and the crunch of sand under his boots made him remarkably glad to be home. He liked Djose well enough, but there was something to be said about the open, seemingly endless expanse of desert that tugged at his heart. It made him want to ask Cid if he could expand the Machine Faction's branch here, which would be more practical for the dig sites.

And it would give him a chance to see Rikku again. He felt…well, he didn't know _what_ he felt when it came to her exactly. When she was a kid, she was always underfoot, following after Brother and Keyakku like a little hyperactive shadow. And since he was always hanging around the two of them; consequently, she was always tagging along with him as well. They got along okay and he always treated her as if she were a younger sibling. He'd never had a sister before, so she fit the role nicely. As the years went on and both Brother and Keyakku decided they were too old to play at children's games, Gippal and Rikku had stuck like glue. Pretty soon it became hard not to mention one name without saying the other on the next breath.

Rikku at fifteen proved that she was definitely _not_ related to him. She had caught his eye in that gangly, yet somehow graceful way that girls that age had. Her face was just starting to show the promise of future beauty and it was enough to put her brothers on alert whenever they caught Gippal looking at their little sister _that way_. Keyakku was pretty laid back about it, only giving Gippal the "you hurt her and you die" speech once, but Brother was another matter. If Rikku so much as sneezed while in Gippal's presence, he automatically went on the defensive. If looks could kill, Gippal would have been dead many times over. He'd been in love with her then, or as in love as a sixteen year-old boy could be. Part of the reason he had left the desert in the first place was that he had wanted to protect her, wanted to show her that he was able to keep her safe. Of course had been a moot point when she hurled herself into Sin's path willingly as a guardian for her cousin. He could understand why she had done it, but he'd had a hard time forgiving her for running off where he couldn't follow to watch her back.

At seventeen, Rikku was all show; the tiny skirt and barely there top showing off curves that hadn't been present when he had hugged her goodbye before leaving for the Crimson Squad two years before. He had definitely still been interested, and if he had read her correctly, she had been interested in him as well. Before he left Home two years ago, he hadn't told her how he had felt about her, and it seemed as if the perfect opportunity had arrived. But her signals changed before he could make a proper move on her. Deciphering her body language was confusing, to say the least. Before his seemingly unwanted advances lost him her friendship, he retreated into the _friends only_ stage.

It nearly killed him. She would stop by and hang out for a few days, tinker in his workshop alongside him, then leave only to come back in a few weeks to repeat the process. They worked great together, but the stop-go-stop signals she was broadcasting wrecked havoc on his hormones and overall sense of well-being. So he decided that if she wasn't interested in him, he would start seeing other women.

That was when she just stopped dropping by. She used New Home's construction as an excuse and promised to keep in touch with him via commspheres. Then even those calls stopped and it was as if she had stepped off the face of the world. It pissed him off at first, how she could act as if their friendship had never happened. He'd wanted to confront her on it, but then decided that it was probably better to give her some space.

It felt weird. The temple had seemed colder, emptier than it did when she was around. He missed the constant stream of conversation, the stupid in-jokes that they only laughed at, the feeling as if they were a team. The one thing that he missed above all else was her friendship. He had a few guys to hang around and throw a few drinks back with, but he'd never really be one of the guys with them. As good of company as he was, he was still their boss, and they still treated him as such on an unconscious level.

He never really could open up to the women that he dated. They had all been nice in their own ways, but they had never made him feel a tenth of what he felt for Rikku. They liked him for his looks, his status as faction leader, his role in bringing down Spira's latest threat of world destruction, but they never just liked him for himself. _So what,_ he thought with a shrug. _Some people just don't get that kind of affection. I'll take what I can get._

As it was, Rikku was the reason he was in Bikanel. She'd helped on two projects that were similar to the one he was currently working on and he needed her expertise. He'd been rehearsing what he was going to say to her after four years' absence, but one look at her and all thoughts flew out of his mind. He'd been practicing what to say to the Rikku he'd known when she'd been seventeen, the woman that stood before him – and even though she had her back to him, he knew it was her - caught him off guard.

The pale orange halter top she wore showed the jagged scar she had received when she was ten. It had been his fault; they had been horsing around by the scrap heap like usual. He had playfully given her a rough shove when she lost her balance and fell backward. She managed to avoid the majority of the metal lying around, but her shoulder snagged on a long piece of rebar, cutting her from the rounded curve of her left shoulder all the way down to the bottom of her shoulder blade. Cid had chewed them both up and down for playing in an area they weren't supposed to be in, but his bellowing had paled in comparison to the job Gippal's mother had done. She never laid a hand on him; she did something far worse. She had told him in that quiet voice she had whenever she was disappointed in something how easily Rikku could have been hurt worse than she had been. It had made him sick to his stomach to think about it and he had avoided talking to Rikku for a week, guilty about hurting her. He could distinctly remember how that scar felt under his fingertips, and how she used to shiver whenever he accidentally brushed his hands over it.

He only half heard what some of the other mechanics were saying, choosing to pay more attention to Rikku instead. Rikku at seventeen might have sparked an intense interest where Rikku at fifteen had only gotten his attention, but at twenty-one, she stole his breath away. There was something about her, a certain confidence that she'd never had before. His eyebrows rose in pure male appreciation as she bent over the engine she was working on, the hem of her already abbreviated shorts inching up tan, lean legs. He wondered if she had a boyfriend – how could she not, she was gorgeous. She'd kept her hair long, the sunny strands sliding over her shoulder and trying to escape the ponytail she had put it in as she tried to wrestle with her project. He grinned when he caught her muttering a few choice words under her breath and wondered just how in the hell he was going to convince her to help him out.

"Hey there, Cid's girl," he drawled, coming up behind her. She gasped and her hand slipped. He winced, knowing exactly how it felt to have engine grease kiss scraped knuckles. He was looking forward to the obligatory "I have a name" reply she always gave him, but nothing could have prepared him for the cool way she delivered those four words. He firmly clamped a hand down on the panic that started welling in his gut, wondering if he had given her _too_ much space over the years.

"How've you been?" he asked, rounding the table to inspect the work on it. She'd been working on a sand-clogged hover engine, it seemed. Little pieces of desert debris littered the workspace and a broken fan belt threatened to slide off the table.

"Good. I've been good." She looked him over. His shoulders were broader; his arms looked more muscular. He still had the tall, lanky build he always had, but the fit of his shirt said that he hadn't spent the last four years sitting idle behind a desk. _He's let his hair grow out,_ she thought. The careless, slightly mussed look suited him; his sun-bleached hair falling artfully in his face in such a way that made her fingers itch to brush it out of his eyes and run all the way down to where his hair touched the collar of his shirt. "You?"

He shrugged. "Same as ever, I guess."

"How's Lina?" Rikku had always felt close to Gippal's mother. When her own mother had died, Lina had taken Rikku under her wing. It made the whole "birds and bees" speech several years down the road a lot easier to handle. Flustered, Cid had just shoved his daughter over to Lina, who had explained everything frankly and a whole lot better than Cid would have been able to.

"Mom? She's okay. She's still setting up agencies with Rin like usual."

Rikku smiled. "They'll never give up, will they?"

He shook his head. "Nope. I think their goal is to have a spot everywhere in Spira."

There it was, that awkward lull in conversation. She bit her bottom lip and looked around, trying to act casual. "If you're looking for Pops, he's in his office."

"I know; I spoke with him before coming here. I…" He stopped himself before he could say, "_I speak with him a lot more than I do you_."

"Actually," he said, clearing his throat. "I need to talk to you."

"Me?" Her eyes went wide, white framing bright green in a way that he thought was absolutely adorable.

"I have a favor to ask."

She took a step back. "What kind of a favor?" She hadn't been expecting that. If anything, she had expected him to ask her why she had suddenly dropped out of touch.

"Is there anywhere else we could go? Someplace quieter?" While the din of the shop was familiar, he'd rather talk to her where there weren't so many distractions. _Or so many eyes._ He looked over his shoulder and several mechanics were suddenly very interested in the items on their tables, more so than they had when he had first walked in the building.

"Let's go outside," she suggested. "I need some fresh air anyway." She hadn't been able to stop herself from reaching out and tugging on his hand. It was an age-old habit she had and it wouldn't have seemed right to lead him out of the shop any other way.

"Cid's done a great job," Gippal commented, looking at the exterior walls of Home.

"Yeah. At first, we weren't sure that anyone would show up, what with everybody finally finding homes of their own. People come and go as they please, but at least Home is still here whenever they want to stay." She hadn't been sure that she'd stick around to help her father either. At first, they got into constant fights that always left the other sulking for a while. Cid hadn't really been much of a father figure after her mother's death. He'd withdrawn from everyone and tried to keep them at arm's length. That distance grew even greater after Keyakku had died. It wasn't until recently that Rikku realized just how much losing his wife and son had hurt him. Cid, as cantankerous as he was, was still family. Rikku was determined to heal the rift she had between her father and herself. She was hoping that Brother would follow suit, but she wasn't going to hold her breath waiting.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have helped out more." He'd sent people out to Bikanel to help Cid, but he never personally went out to do any of the work. He'd figured that Rikku wouldn't have wanted him there.

"No! It's okay, really. We wouldn't have gotten as far as we have without the Machine Faction's help." She jumped when he reached out and held her right hand. "What?"

"Your hand is still bleeding. Must sting like hell." He pulled out a handkerchief from his pants pocket and gently dabbed her injured skin. Her knuckles really weren't bleeding much; in fact they had already stopped. It just gave Gippal an excuse to touch her, which he had missed doing for so long.

Rikku looked down at her hand and couldn't help but notice the small scallop of lace that edged the handkerchief. The design still managed to look masculine and the heavy material it was attached to felt cool against her hand. "Thank you," she whispered, somehow unable to pull her hand free from Gippal's. The old attraction she thought she had buried reared its head. _Why did he have to be so nice,_ she wondered. _Why couldn't he at least pretend to be angry with me? It would make this a lot easier to handle._

Unable to resist, Gippal reached out with his free hand and rubbed at the dirt smudge on her cheek. "I found an airship," he blurted.

She pulled back slightly. "Did not." When she wasn't busy helping out in Bikanel or visiting her brand new cousin in Besaid, she spent her spare time scouring old texts for mentions of a ship she could call her own. So far, she hadn't found anything.

He grinned. "Did too." He finished wrapping the handkerchief around her fingers and stepped back. "And it was in my own back yard, right under my nose."

"Where?"

"The Moonflow is a lot deeper than everybody always thought it was. Remember the ruins underneath it?" He tucked his hands into his back pockets and leaned backwards. "It's not as big as the _Celsius_ or the _Fahrenheit_, but she's something."

His grin was infectious. "Have you salvaged it yet?"

"No. I wanted to run it by you first."

She blinked. "Me? Why?" In truth, she'd only been partially involved with either airship salvage teams. She'd helped on the _Fahrenheit _until word had gotten out that Yuna had started her pilgrimage. By that time, they had still been scraping off barnacles and replacing rusted out bits of metal. She hadn't been around to see the finished product. She'd gotten more experience with the _Celsius_, coming in right after Brother and Buddy realized that they were going to need more people to help out if they were ever going to get their ship off the ground. They'd done the preliminary refurbishing, but she got to help with the electrical rewiring and major engine re-haul work. It had been mostly grunt work where she had earned her share of cuts, scrapes, burns, and bruises, but she had loved it.

Gippal rubbed the back of his head. "Because…" _Because there isn't anyone else I'd rather discover things like this with than with you. Because it'd be just like old times. Because I just _miss you_, damn it._ "Because you're the number one person for the job," he said instead. "I want to do this right, so who better to ask than somebody that's done this twice already?"

The smile he gave her made her toes curl in her boots. She suddenly felt like she was seventeen all over; awkward and tongue-tied whenever it came to dealing with him. She didn't _want_ to feel this way again; she'd been there, done that and only wound up with a bruised heart for all her efforts.

But still…she wasn't going to lie to herself and say that she hadn't missed being around him. It wasn't just the whole crush-thing either. They'd been friends for years and he was really the only person that she could really confide in without having to worry about saying anything stupid or wondering if she could have rephrased anything in a more tactful manner. She had friends here in Home, sure, but no one that ever came close to Gippal.

Plus, there was the lure of finding an airship. He wanted her to do this. It wasn't exactly the same as working on her own ship since at the end she'd have to hand it back over to him, but while it was being worked on, it would be _hers._

"So what do you say?" he asked. "Give a guy a break and help him out?"

She tilted her head. The promise of buried treasure won out against the awkward girl inside Rikku that still giggled and blushed whenever he said her name.

"Sure. Count me in."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 2/12

Rating: G

Words: 2,695

Summary: Rikku goes to see a friend before getting down to business.

* * *

Three days later saw Rikku sitting in the Blitzball stands of Luca, screaming her lungs out. She was torn between cheering for Besaid and the Psyches. If the Aurochs had been playing any other team, she'd have been behind them one hundred percent. It just so happened that the new players the Psyches had recruited this season were gorgeously _hot_. So in the spirit of fairness, she jumped around in her seat, cheering like a maniac at the top of her voice for both teams.

The game had ended in a tie. Rikku went down to the player's dressing rooms soon after, intent on finding Tidus. He saw her in the crowd before she spotted him, waving from the entrance of the Auroch dressing room. He gave her an apologetic grin, gesturing with his head at the reporters waiting for interviews. She nodded in understanding and wandered around a little. As luck would have it, several of the Al Bhed cuties were outside their dressing room, so she spent her time waiting chatting them up and getting autographs. One of the players had even asked her to dinner, but she regretfully turned the offer down, explaining that she had to leave the city soon.

"Hey," Tidus said, coming out of the dressing room twenty minutes later, hair damp and a towel in hand. "Sorry about that, they've been asking for interviews for three games straight."

"No problem. Everybody wants to talk to the former guardian turned star player of the Besaid Aurochs."

He winced. "I wish they'd pay less attention to me. I'm not the only one on the team, you know."

Rikku's eyes widened. "Wow, this coming from the guy that prided himself on being the best only a few years ago."

He grinned. "What can I say? I grew up."

"You did? This is news to me."

"Hey!" He rolled up his towel and smacked her on the arm with it. "I am _too_ grown up!"

"Oh, so the guy I saw a few weeks ago dodging lightning bolts Lulu was throwing must have been your look-alike." Rikku crossed her arms. "Just what _did_ you and Wakka do to make her so angry?"

Tidus cringed. "Believe me, you don't wanna know."

"Anyway, that was a great game."

He rubbed the towel over his head vigorously. "Thanks. The Psyches' offense is great this season; Keepa really kept us in the game." He let the towel drape over his shoulders. "So what brings you here?"

She quirked an eyebrow. "What? I can't visit my favorite cousin-in-law during tournament time?"

"It's not that, it just looks like you've got something on your mind."

She bit her bottom lip. "Well…"

"Go on, spill."

"You remember Gippal, right?"

He rolled his eyes. He'd been privy to all the 'why can't he see that I like him?' rants Rikku would go into whenever she visited Yuna. "Oh, I don't know. Is he that guy you used to talk about, the one with the cute butt that lives in the old temple at Djose?"

Her cheeks flared a vibrant pink. "I never said that."

He laughed good-naturedly at her obvious discomfort. "Yeah, whatever. It must have been the other Rikku I know that said it instead. Anyway, what's up?"

She ground the toe of her boot against the tile floor. "I kinda took a job offer from him," she mumbled.

He grew serious. "You sure that's a good thing to do?" He didn't know all the specifics, not wanting to get too deep into whatever the two had going on between them, but he knew enough to figure out that they had some sort of history. "The last time you brought him up, you wound up crying and moping around the beach for a week."

"I do _not_ mope."

"Okay, so you brooded."

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't do that either." She rocked back on her heels. "I don't know if this is a good idea or not. That's why I came to talk with you."

He led her out of the dressing room area and towards the main portion of Luca. Sitting down on the bench one level above the ticket stand, he patted the spot next to him. "Shouldn't you be talking to Yuna instead? Maybe Lulu?"

She plopped down beside him. "I need a guy's perspective. And before you say anything, no, I'm not going to talk to Brother. He has some issues when it comes to Gippal." She still didn't know why her brother disliked him as much as he did, but she wasn't about to discuss her romantic life or lack thereof with him either way.

"So what do you need me for?" Honestly, she didn't really know. After Gippal had left Bikanel, Rikku's first instinct was to run off to Besaid and talk things over with her cousin. She was in the middle of packing a bag when she realized that as much as she loved Yuna; she would only say the same thing she always said whenever the subject of Rikku's old crush came up. She had always advised her to follow up on her feelings, to take a risk that Gippal might feel about her the same way that Rikku felt about him.

Rikku might be somewhat fearless in other situations, but here, she was a complete chicken.

Twisting her hands in her lap, she bit her lip again. "What would you do in my place?" She leaned back against the bench. "Say that Yunie told you she found an airship and needed your help unearthing it and fixing it up."

Tidus sat up straighter. "He found an airship? How big? Where?"

"Yes he did, he didn't say except that it's not as big as Pop's or Brother's, and he found it in the Moonflow," she answered. "Come on, _focus_."

Tidus cradled his chin in his hands and thought about it. "Fine. Well, I'd go for it, and then I'd try to wrangle out a date. She _is_ my wife, after all." The flash of teeth he gave her was downright wolfish.

Rikku blew out an exasperated sigh. "Pretend you're not married for a second and you hadn't seen her for four years." _Okay, so maybe this was a bad idea,_ she thought._ I should have just gone to Paine instead._

"Depends on how the first meeting went. How did you feel when you saw him again?"

"It was…" she searched for a word that would best describe how she had felt. "Not awkward, but weird."

"Was talking to him difficult?"

"No, not really. There were a few gaps in conversation, but after a while it was as if nothing had happened." She didn't know how to feel about that. "I expected him to be mad, or at least bring up the fact that I had been the one to stop talking to him."

"Well, from what I've heard about him, he's a pretty forgiving guy. I mean one of his friends _did_ shoot him and leave him for dead and he's still talking to _him_."

"That's true, but…" She wanted to believe that her friendship with Gippal meant more to him than his friendship with Nooj.

"You expected him to be miserable without you, like you were without him, didn't you?"

_Why did he have to suddenly be all perceptive?_ "Is that too much to ask?" she whispered. She'd been in love with him for so long; it hurt to think that Gippal might have thought so little of their friendship. She hadn't talked to him in four years, but he hadn't made any move to contact her either. _Maybe all he wants is for me to work for him._ That thought hurt more than she expected it to.

Tidus reached over and gathered her close to his chest. He smelt slightly like the chemicals the stadium managers put in the sphere pool, but she didn't care. "You still love him, don't you?"

"Yes. No. Oh hell, I don't know." She burrowed her head against the crook of his neck. "Why does he have to be so damn confusing?"

He rested his chin against the crown of her head. "Maybe he's just as thrown as you are." He gave her shoulders a squeeze. "I'm not going to say that you should tell him how you feel," he started. "But at the same time, if the opportunity comes up, don't just sit there and say nothing."

"So I should just act professionally?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Do you think that you could be friends?"

"Yes." There was no questioning that. After the initial awkwardness she had felt, it had been easy to fall back into the easy friendship they always had.

"Then just be yourself. Do the job Gippal asked you to do and have fun while you're there. Because seriously," his smile went ear to ear. "An _airship_. How cool is _that?_"

She sat up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, I feel a lot better now."

"That's what I'm here for. Man, if it was the off-season, I'd ask if I could help out."

"What, having a baby in the house getting on your nerves?" She smiled fondly; the newest addition to the family was notorious for keeping the entire household up at all hours of the night.

Tidus rubbed his temples. "It's not that. I just can't wait for Jecht to get into some sort of sleep routine. He's been really fussy. I've been dozing off during practices lately and Yuna almost fell asleep in her breakfast the other day."

Rikku playfully punched his arm. "Just think of it this way – if you can survive this phase, the rest is going to be cake."

"I hope so. Fighting Sin wasn't as hard as fatherhood, you know?"

She laughed. "Wakka told me the same thing. You'll get used to it, Daddy." She stood up and stretched. "I've gotta head out. Tell Yunie hi for me, okay?"

"Will do. Take care of yourself. You know we're just a sphere call away."

Rikku slung the pack she'd been lugging around over her shoulder. "Thanks. Good luck for the rest of the season!"

She wound her way through the crowds before making it to the Highroad entrance. A lot of people recognized her from her Gullwing days. She'd pretty much made Bikanel her permanent home, but she still did a couple of sphere runs with Brother and Buddy every now and then. The guys had recruited a couple of other girls over the years, but they always had room for her on the _Celsius _whenever she felt like coming aboard and getting away from the desert for a couple of weeks. Besides, it gave her a chance to tell the new girls some embarrassing little tidbit of information about Brother. She was his little sister; it was her job - no, her _duty_ - to do things like that from time to time. Plus it was fun to make his ears go bright red and hear him try to deny her stories. Buddy played along too, which was always entertaining.

On the Highroad, she gave the chocobos resting at the entrance a wary glance. They were cute and everything, but the last time she had been on one, she'd been bucked off and had needed a potion to help heal a nasty goose egg on her behind. She unconsciously rubbed her back pant pocket as she sidled up to the hover technician.

Several minutes later saw her at the Travel Agency's door. She popped in to see if either Rin or Lina were around, but neither was. She was hoping to get a chance to talk with Lina, to see if Gippal had maybe told his mother anything about her coming to work with him. After giving the girl at the counter a friendly wave and a message to tell everyone hello the next time they came through, Rikku hopped on the next hover heading towards Djose.

Fiends were still around on the roads, but thanks to the sentinels from the now long disbanded New Yevon and Youth League, their numbers were remarkably less. Rikku elected to stay on the hover route instead of walking; it was hot and she wanted to look her best on her first day of work. Call it vanity, but she didn't really want to greet Gippal all sweaty and wearing fiend goo. She paid the driver and hopped off, hitching her pack higher on her shoulder. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as she stared the temple down. Stopping to ask a few people where Gippal was, she followed their directions to the room that had once served as a receiving area for pilgrims. She put her palm against the heavy door and pushed.

oOoOo

Gippal was tired. He'd spent the majority of his day working on salary requisitions and figuring out which vendor was cheapest to purchase metal from and which would be best to buy parts from. Normally his accountant would be the one dealing with the more tedious paperwork, but she had come down with something and couldn't make it in. Numbers swam in front of his eye and he gained a new respect for the job she did. He made a mental note to raise her salary, eying the stacks of paperwork that was threatening to slide off his desk.

Yawning, he stretched his long legs out in front of him and leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. He still had to make a couple of rounds to check if everything was ready for the Moonflow operation. Rikku had told him she'd be ready in a few days, but she hadn't given him an exact time frame to work with. He wasn't worried; if she got there before things were ready, then he'd have an extra pair of hands around. If she got there after everything was set, then that was fine too. They could spend the time fine tuning the planning details.

_I don't care. She's coming back and we're talking again. That's all that matters._ After leaving New Home, he'd felt both elated and emotionally wiped out. He had expected to feel good about seeing her again, but the exhaustion threw him for a loop. It had taken all he had not to hug her and never let her go. Part of it had been because she'd grown up so much in the four years apart. The other part had been realizing just how lovely she looked. His hands had itched to run through her hair and hold her close.

And now she was going to live at the temple until the ship was done. They were both adults; he wondered what her reaction would be if he tried to move their relationship past the "just friends" stage. He'd have to do it carefully; the last thing he wanted to do was to scare her off. And he couldn't do it in his usual manner either because she always did see right through his charm and managed to brush off what had been a serious attempt for her attention as just a joke. He decided to play everything by ear and see how things went before making any moves. He hadn't gotten any signals from her when he had been in Bikanel, and he sincerely hoped that he hadn't missed his chance with her.

He shuffled the paperwork on his desk and set it aside for the day. Rubbing his forehead to stave off the headache forming, he stood up. There was a bottle of vintage Kilika wine in his bedroom that was singing his name. After juggling finances all day, he figured he deserved a glass or two to unwind. He was at the door when he heard the footsteps outside. Opening the door, he stepped back in surprise as Rikku stumbled forward. They stood there blinking at the other for a moment before she gave him a sunny smile.

"Hi there boss," she said, clutching at the shoulder strap of her bag. "Rikku here, reporting for duty."


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 3/12

Rating: G

Challenge: angry, shoopuf, accident

Words: 3,402

Summary: While diving in the Moonflow, Rikku discovers something unexpected.

* * *

"Nice place," Rikku said, standing in the doorway of Gippal's personal drafting room. The room was more like a small house made up of metal and glass, situated a mile away from the temple on the beach. It was actually kinda cozy; the many windows lent an airy, open feel and the dark wooden floors with their woven rugs grounded everything comfortably. Glass encased lanterns were mounted along the walls and large overhead lights were powered by the generator she had caught a glimpse of in the back of the building. There were wooden storage shelves that went from the floor to the ceiling, all full of neatly organized tubes – building plans and blueprints, she guessed. Books, newly bound by the look of them, were crammed into another tall case near a storage closet that she was really curious to see the contents of.

_He must have had this built sometime recently_, she thought, fingering the wood and paper wall partition that slid along a track set in the floor, creating a barrier between the small living space up front and the rest of the work stations further to the back. The sound of the surf crashing against the shoreline outside was soothing, though the rest of the scenery wasn't as peaceful. The large picture windows near where Gippal kept his planning table looked out not to the water, but to the deep furrows of earth that had been carved into the landscape during the failed Operation Mi'ihen. "It could use a better view though."

"I like the view as it is," Gippal said, perching on the edge of a nearby counter. "Reminds me that even the best of plans fail sometimes." He pulled out a leather blueprint case from one of the many cubbyholes and held it out to Rikku. "Here's what we have so far. There's not much, but that's where you come in."

Rikku unscrewed the cap and set it on the tilted drafting table, the metal pencil ledge keeping it from falling off. Rolled up inside were several pages of notes, all neatly written in Gippal's slanting, bold hand. Alongside the notes were two maps, one of Spira with a red ink line going south around the peninsula from Djose and winding up north where one of the Moonflow's tributaries met the sea. The other was a sketchier drawing, depicting the Moonflow and several ruins that lay beneath it. The margins were full of Gippal's notes, detailing the depth of the river at some points and estimates on other areas.

"So you're thinking of sailing from here and getting a salvage ship into the river?" She tilted her head and looked at the map again. "Wouldn't it be easier just to set sail from Kilika?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, if you really want to spend a fortune for what they're charging to charter a boat _per hour._ It's highway robbery."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I've got it covered. I just had to mention the word _airship_ to Cid and he donated one of his ships and a skeleton crew. All I have to do is give him a day's notice and it'll meet us at the mouth of the Moonflow." He arched his eyebrow. "I'm thinking that he'll want something back in return, but he hasn't said just what yet."

"Knowing Dad, he'll save this favor until he really needs it." She spread the notes on the table and sat on the stool nearby. "How big is this thing anyway?"

"Couldn't really say. I tried a few dives earlier, but couldn't make much out in the gloom. It looks to be a small passenger number; probably has the bare essentials, but that's all I'm really looking for."

"All speed but none of the baggage, huh?"

"And small enough that I won't kill myself trying to dig out a hangar near the temple." They both laughed, then he looked at her seriously. "I'm really glad you agreed to come here, Rikku."

She blushed, mentally clamping a hand over the butterflies that suddenly sprang in her stomach at the sound of her name rolling off his tongue. "I'm glad you asked me," she replied, putting the plans back in their case. It was getting late; if they didn't head back soon, then they'd be driving their hover back to the temple in the dark. She slung the case over her shoulder, her hand holding onto its wide leather carrying strap.

As if he had been reading her mind, Gippal spoke up. "Come on," he said, hopping off the counter. He reached out and held her hand, much like she had done in Bikanel when she had led him out of the workshop. "I really don't want to dodge fiends this close to sundown."

He had laced his fingers with hers, and neither of them let go until they reached the hover.

oOoOo

"So, where is it?" Rikku asked, looking over the side of the basket. After looking things over and estimating the number of people and equipment needed, she had drawn up a schedule of the salvage phase. She'd left all the other things to Gippal, such as juggling overtime pay, crew wages, equipment costs and whatnot. She liked working in broad strokes, letting him fill in with the finer details.

She and Gippal had decided to travel via the faster land route and ride a shoopuf to meet the salvage ship at the site. It had been tricky maneuvering the large vessel through the Moonflow's many tributaries, but they'd made it somehow. Gippal wasn't lying when he said that Cid had supplied them with a skeleton crew; there was only the captain and an engineer aboard the vessel. She'd recognized them both from the Fahrenheit's salvage team, so she'd instantly gotten along with them, chattering on like long-lost teammates. Their crew of four was also familiar with salvage boats, so they took up the slack. The plan was to use the ship's pulleys and crane to get the sunken airship to the surface, then, depending on size, haul it to the bank where a large transport vehicle would then take it back to the temple for repairs. If the airship was bigger than Gippal had estimated, they would put it aboard the salvage ship and then try to find a way to sail around the Djose coastline for a better loading area nearest to the temple.

"She." Gippal corrected.

Rikku rolled her eyes. "I never really got what the whole deal is with guys referring to their ships as women." She shaded her eyes with a hand and peered over the water, the sun making the surface sparkle brightly.

"You try working on something for a long time and not start talking to it like a person."

_Well, that's kinda true,_ she agreed. _There were a couple of times I wanted to tell Buddy to get a room when he was working on the Celsius' engines._ She wrinkled her nose. "Okay, fine. Where is _she_ then?"

"Over there," Gippal pointed. "You see that building that looks like a bell tower? She's right under it."

Rikku leaned against his arm, trying to get a better viewpoint. She could see the vague outline of the building he was talking about, guessing that the ship would be somewhere deeper underneath. "Oh yeah, now I see it. Huh, there may be some structural damage if the building fell on top."

He leaned back against the seat, rubbing his chin in the way that signified he was going into 'engineer mode'. "Building a city over the river must have looked like a good idea on paper," he mused. "Maybe it would have worked if they had kept buildings only two stories tall, worked across the water instead of towering over it. Scaled it down, you know?"

"My friend Wakka used to say they got what they deserved, building a machina city over the water. People shouldn't have defied the laws of nature and stuff."

He snorted. "No offense, but your friend Wakka sounds like he's blowing a lot of hot air."

She grinned. "Yeah, but that was before I got him to see the error of his ways. He's a lot more tolerant to machina nowadays."

The afternoon sun sparkled over the water, reflecting over their faces. "We should start setting up. Hopefully this won't take long and we'll be finished with anchoring the ties before sundown."

"I thought that's why we brought all those big lights."

"They might work, but I'm thinking that the moon lilies are going to mess with the lighting underwater. We brought them just in case that wasn't the deal."

She slung her arm over the seat's backrest and stretched out her legs. "Nighttime here sure does look pretty though. I haven't been this way in years."

_Yeah,_ Gippal thought. _I know._ "What, you never took Tobli up on those offers to make you the next big singing sensation?"

She waved a hand. "No, he got really busy with the attractions in the Calm Lands. Besides, Yunie's a tough act to follow and I'm more of a dancer than a singer."

"So I take it you still sound like a dying Zu whenever you open your mouth?"

Mock-angry, she made a face and smacked his shoulder. "Do _not_!" she squawked, shoving him again. _Okay, so maybe I could stand to use the songstress dressphere more often, but I definitely do _not_ sound like an oversized killer buzzard._

"Keep making that face and it'll stick that way."

"So that's what happened to you, I always wondered."

"Hah, very funny. You're just jealous that I'm so gorgeous."

She sighed dramatically. "Can you _be_ any more full of yourself?"

He shrugged. "I don't know; give me a while to find out." He reached out and tugged on a strand of her hair. "I've missed this. I've missed _us_."

Her smile faded and she glanced down at the bottom of the basket. "I've missed us too. Gippal…"

He shook his head and changed the subject. "Hey, looks like the crew is in position." He stood up and cupped his hands over his mouth to shout directions to the hypello steering the shoopuf. The large animal lurched into motion, taking them towards the salvage ship's deck.

"Okay, we've got air tanks ready over here," Gippal was saying to everyone on board, holding out his hand to help Rikku out of the basket. "Since we don't know how deep this is going to be, I say use them. There's about two hours' worth of air in each tank. Make sure you come up before then."

"Gotcha." She grunted as she strapped the heavy tanks to her back, weaving backward as she tried to redistribute her balance. Pulling her goggles over her eyes, she looked at the four other people that were already geared up and ready to dive. "You coming along too?" she asked, noticing Gippal was checking the last set of tanks.

Gippal smirked. "Yep. This is buried treasure here, kid. You think I'd miss out on an opportunity to find it?" He handed her several underwater flares. "Use these to mark places we can attach chains to. They're designed to stay lit for a long time, so swim and mark as many spots as you can. Ready everyone?"

Rikku nearly swallowed her tongue when Gippal peeled off his shirt, watching muscles smoothly flex as he pulled the material over his head. _Oh yeah, his shoulders really did fill out. His arms too. Nice._ She shook her head and looked away, hoping that her face didn't resemble a tomato too much. _Gah! Focus, girl! Ignore the abs in front of you! _Bare-chested, he hooked the twin tanks onto his back as if they weighed nothing and snapped on a pair of goggles.

"Race you to the ruins!" he told her playfully, diving backwards from the ship deck. Four other splashes signaled that everyone else was in the water while she was still at the starting line. Tugging on her boots to make sure they stayed in place, Rikku inhaled through her mouthpiece and jumped in after them.

The water was darker than she had expected. From the surface it had looked clear in some parts and only partially opaque in others, the moon lilies the only things obscuring the view. Down below, it was nothing but murky darkness. Switching on the light she had attached to her arm earlier, she swam deeper. Ghostlike columns stood out in the gloom, the plants attached waving in the current like fingers. It was eerie swimming through long abandoned buildings. There was a certain stillness that she didn't like, as if something was waiting in the depths, ready to spring into action.

_Stop it,_ she told herself. _There's nothing down here but a couple of crumbling ruins, some fish and an airship. You've got an overactive imagination is all._ She swam through the bell tower and dove down, wondering just how far she would have to go before they found what they were looking for. A school of fish scattered as her light pierced the darkness.

_Ah hah, looks like somebody found it._ Brilliant green light flared up ahead, pointing her in the right direction. Within minutes, she could see the other members of the crew swimming around a hulking metal object. It was smaller than she had anticipated; looking like it was designed to carry a crew of three. The lines of the ship were blurred out by invading flora, but she had a feeling it had been a beauty in its heyday. _And it's going to look great again, if I have anything to say about it._

She swam around until she saw Gippal. He was busy finding anchor places for the chains that would drag the ship up to the surface. He happened to look up as she approached, his hair waving around in a halo over his head and a boyish grin on his lips. She gave him a thumbs-up which he returned before swimming over to mark another place.

By that time there were already numerous flares being lit. It gave Rikku an idea of where the next flare would go and work was quick. Before long three of the salvage crew surfaced to bring the chains down which were easy to attach. Things were going smoothly. She and Gippal had estimated that they'd have to take at least two days to bring the ship up, one for the prep-work and another for the actual resurfacing, but it looked as if they could get it done in one. That was good; that meant they could start the rebuilding phase sooner.

Things were going _so_ smoothly in fact that her curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to see the inside of the ship while it was still underwater. One of the large windows on the side had been blown out; she figured that the pressure of the water had forced the glass from its casings. It was big enough for her to wiggle through, but her tanks got stuck halfway. Taking a lungful of air, she unhooked them from her shoulders and let them rest inside the ship with a thump that stirred up the rust and plants that had taken up residence inside. If she needed air, she would swim back to them.

It was darker there in the cabin than it had been outside. She adjusted her flashlight and wandered. The room she had swum into looked to be sleeping quarters. She could see the skeletal remains of three metal bunks covered in plant life. Finding nothing of interest there, she went on through.

The tiny galley was empty, any pots and pans and other kitchen paraphernalia that would have hung on the walls had long since floated or rotted away. _I wonder just how old this thing is,_ she thought. _For something that's been down here forever it still looks to be in somewhat good shape._

There was a small lounging area between the galley and the cockpit. A booth was built into the wall, a table next to it. All that remained of the table was a tiny portion of the metal leg and the plate it was bolted to the floor with. Two other seats lined the opposite side of the room, probably for whatever passengers the ship was built to carry. Knowing Gippal, he would probably refurbish the area as party central. She just hoped he didn't want any lurid upholstery or cheesy decorations, much like Brother had been dead set on for the bar area of the Celsius' cabins but had been outvoted two to one by Rikku and Buddy.

The engine room was a loss though. The water had ruined everything; rust covered every available surface and it looked as if they would have to gut everything and start fresh. The power source looked strange; it wasn't like the ones on her father or her brother's ships. She put a finger against the odd looking panels and wrinkled her nose at the amount of slimy algae that rubbed off.

She made another circuit back to the sleeping quarters to grab another breath of air before heading to the bridge. The feeling of being watched grew stronger with every kick of her legs and stroke of her arms. There was the usual equipment: the navigational computer, the co-pilot's controls, and a teleport pad, among others that were so covered in plants and such that she couldn't make them out properly. Even with fish swimming in and out of some of the components, everything looked to be in better condition than the engine room, which was good. _Just needs a little bit of love and a whole lot of elbow grease. We'll get you looking pretty all over again, just you wait._ They could update a few things, but she'd decide on that later.

Looking around more, she came to the realization that the ship's location was a complete accident. Crumpled up metal was everywhere around the nose of the ship, signifying a crash landing. She circled the pilot's seat, ducking under a huge metal spike that had come through the front window, breaking the glass. The end of it pierced the seat right around chest level and came out through the back. A grisly image flashed in her mind; _if somebody had been sitting there,_ she thought,_ they'd have to have died instantly._ She jerked her hand off the head rest of the seat and rubbed it against the outside of her thigh. _Oh don't be silly. If there was a body, then it would have already disintegrated by now._ She hoped that no one had been sitting there. If the spike hadn't killed them outright, then they would have been pinned in place, unable to escape. They'd have sat there as the water rose in the cabin, slowly drowning. It made her shiver just thinking about it.

Just then, the ship lurched. Above her, she could hear the groaning sounds of gears running. _Gippal must have already secured everything. Okay, time to get out of here. _She was swimming towards the now glass-free side window when something flickered in the corner of her eye. She figured it was the play of shadows from her light and the flares around, but she still turned around to investigate. Finding nothing, she turned towards the window again.

A man floated in front of her, dark hair obscuring most of his face. Startled, she screamed, sending bubbles of air floating around her head. He was definitely _not_ one of the salvage crew: his eyes were clouded over and looked as if they belonged to a dead fish in the ray of her flashlight, his skin a mottled grey wherever it happened to still be attached to his body. She kicked backward when he reached out for her with a skeletal hand, but was stopped when the back of her head hit the pilot console hard enough to make her teeth rattle.

_This is going to hurt later,_ she thought, her vision getting fuzzy. _If there is a later._ She felt a hard tug at both of her arms, but she couldn't bring her hands up to defend herself. The last thing she saw before everything went black was a bright flash of green at her side.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 4/12

Rating: PG-13ish for language

Challenge: coarse, wiggle, pout

Words: 4,258

Summary: In which Gippal freaks out and Rikku finds herself in an eerily familiar situation.

* * *

_Don't leave me, love._ Huh, that was odd. Rikku felt as if she was floating in the darkness. It was unnerving, especially since the air around her was so cold. She frowned at that; hadn't she been in the water before? She twisted, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. She didn't recognize it, but there was something comforting to the tone, something soothing that put her mind at ease. _I've wanted to see you again for so long. Please, stay with me._ There it was again. She shivered, the voice whispering against her ear, dark and smooth like velvet. Suddenly she wanted nothing more but to curl up and rest, that voice lulling her into sleep.

She was violently jarred out of her half-asleep state by something that hit her hard on her back. _Damn it, Rikku, stay with me!_ Now wait a minute, she knew _that _voice. She was going to answer when she felt palms press against her chest and firm lips against her own. _Come _on_ Cid's girl; breathe! _The dark was getting lighter and brighter by the second, the air seeming to warm up.

The first thing that greeted Rikku when she came out of the floating blackness was an up close and personal view of Gippal's mouth. Why he was kissing her _now_ was beyond her realm of imagination. Sure, she had been dying for him to touch her like that for years, but now was probably not the best time. They still had an airship to unearth, for crying out loud. Before she could say anything or even try to kiss him back, she was brought harshly back to reality, quickly jerking her head to the side and violently coughing up river water. Gasping for air, she turned to her side and curled up into a ball, oblivious to the silt plastered to the side of her face from the Moonflow's bank. _Everything_ hurt. The back of her head felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it and her lungs felt as if they were on fire.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?" Gippal growled, wrapping a thick blanket around her body someone had thrown to him. Though his words were harsh, his hands were remarkably gentle. She didn't answer; she just burrowed deeper against the coarse material and shivered, watching all the pairs of feet that she was now aware of circling them. Her arms and legs felt rubbery and wobbly. She didn't know if she'd be able to stand if she tried.

He felt her shaking against him. "Fuck." It wasn't like him to swear, but the situation called for it. Gathering her up against him, he rubbed his hands over her arms to try and warm her up. A thin trickle of blood seeped out from the nape of her neck, staining the collar of her shirt. He pushed her hair aside, stopping when she hissed in pain. From what he could see, the cut against her scalp was shallow, but there was a large knot forming at the base of her skull.

"'m sorry," she mumbled, her words muffled by his chest. She was so _tired._ Her hand weakly reached out from under the blanket and splayed against his skin, which was still damp from the river but blazing hot to the touch. She could feel his heart beat a rapid tattoo against her palm, as if he had just been running for miles and miles.

"It's okay, we'll talk about this later."

"Someone else is on the ship." She closed her eyes tightly and clung to him. "Dead."

He wiped at the dirt on her cheek. "Everybody's here, we're all accounted for."

"But…"

"Shh. Get some rest. We'll be back at the temple soon and we'll look at your head better."

She was going to argue, that she _had_ seen someone on the bridge, but before she could say anything, she felt his fingers run gently through her hair. The pain at the back of her neck lessened slightly to a more bearable level.

_Sleep, dearest._ The velvety voice was back again, and the only thing she could do was follow its suggestion.

oOoOo

He couldn't stop his hands from shaking. He held Rikku close to him the entire hover ride back to the temple, mentally cursing the machine for being too slow. They could have been going at warp speed for all he knew, but it still wouldn't have been fast enough.

As they neared the temple, he saw that someone else had arrived before him from the south. He recognized the woman that disembarked from the hover as it pulled to a stop and let out a grateful woosh of air from his lungs. _Mother._ The long sleeved blouse and flowing turquoise skirt were as familiar to him as his own clothes, and the short bob of golden hair that framed her face was something that he would always be able to pick out of a crowd.

"What happened?" she asked, her long legs easily coming into step with his.

"I don't know. There was an accident. She's hurt." He held Rikku closer to him, feeling her breath puff against his shoulder. Without another word, he marched to the back passages of the building, his mouth set in a grim line.

When people first visited the temple, they thought it was only comprised of the two front antechambers and the Cloister of Trials. Gippal had been surprised himself when upon further investigation – meaning he had gotten incredibly lost all by himself - he had unearthed a rabbit warren of tunnels leading to wings burrowed deep within the rock itself. There were meditation rooms and living quarters for the priests and acolytes along with guest bedrooms for visiting pilgrims. There was even a secret, massive library full of written information and detailed sketches of machina, of all things. Gippal had snorted at the hypocrisy surrounding the teachings of Yevon, but took the wealth of long forgotten information as a gift. The textbooks along with the seemingly endless power supply had cemented his decision to use the abandoned temple as his headquarters. The long hallways and passages of rooms became test laboratories and living areas for the technicians that had decided to stay on site. He had taken two of the more austere chambers as his own personal living space.

His feet automatically headed there now, arms growing tired from carrying a dead-weight Rikku. Toeing the door open, he went straight for his bed. As gently as he could, he slid her across the sheets, grimacing at any sign of discomfort she gave. He was in the middle of getting her foot to wiggle out of a sodden boot when he felt a hand at his shoulder.

"_Cuh_."

"_Sudran_," he answered in a clipped tone. Not looking behind him, he let the boot fall to the floor with a muted thump and reached for its twin.

A shadow fell over his shoulder as Lina peered into Rikku's face. "Head injury?"

"Back of the head, base of the skull." Internally, he was going through every single bit of first aid training he had picked up from the Crimson Squad, cursing himself that his knowledge was so limited. "She's cut, but it isn't very deep." Rikku shivered again in her sleep. _Dry. Gotta get her dry and warm._ He peeled off her socks, noting that her vibrant orange tipped toes were ice cold.

Lina used her thumb to open Rikku's right eye. "It doesn't look like she has a concussion. Does she have any other clothes?"

"In her room."

"Could you go get them?"

_No. I need to stay with her._ When Lina didn't see her son moving any time soon, she put a gentle hand on his arm. "If we're going to help her, you need to get out of the way." Her eyes softened when she saw him flinch. "Go get her clothes, my boy."

Gippal paused at the doorway, looking across the room. Lina had already risen from the bed, moving to the attached bathroom to gather towels in the quick, no-nonsense manner she had always had in situations like this.

"This wasn't your fault," she said quietly, efficiently blotting out the majority of water from Rikku's hair with one hand while placing another rolled up towel under her head to catch any more blood with the other.

He watched as she left Rikku alone long enough to dig through the satchel she had brought with her, producing a potion vial. "I know that." He turned on his heel and stiffly left the room.

Space issues made him give Rikku the room farthest from his. At the time, there hadn't been any other rooms available. Now, it was more like slow torture. The long, twisting hallways gave him plenty of time to remember what she had looked like, floating face down in the water. Her skin had been so cold. He wrenched open her door with more force than necessary.

She had unpacked pretty much everything since she had arrived; most of her belongings were placed in the wooden dresser against the wall opposite her bed. The large leather satchel she had brought with her sat next to it, looking curiously deflated now that it was emptied of its contents. The pack was familiar; it was a hand-me-down he had given her when he had upgraded his own traveling bag years ago. He opened up the dresser drawers and went through the items packed inside, picking out clothes that would keep her warm. Much of her wardrobe was brightly colored and cheerful, yet woefully inadequate for warmth. At least it would give her something dry to change into. _This wasn't your fault._ He picked up her brush, staring at the yellow strands of hair caught in the bristles. _I've missed us too._ As an afterthought, he riffled through her dresser again until he found the ties he had seen her pull her hair back with recently. _Damn it, Rikku! Stay with me!_

His knees gave out then. "Shit. Oh shit." He sat down heavily on the bed, balling her clothes in his fists. In all the years that he'd known her, this was the first time that he'd been close to actually losing her. He clenched his teeth, trying to get the memory of pale skin and blue lips out of his mind. It _had_ been his fault. He'd been too damn caught up in his own excitement to give her a second thought. He should have gone in there with her. He should have _known_ she would have wanted to explore. Maybe if he had been there, she wouldn't have gotten hurt. Something had scared her down there, and he was determined to find out what.

He flexed his hands, willing them to stop shaking. He gave a mirthless grunt of laughter; he could see Rikku now if she knew he had gotten this worked up about her. She'd roll her eyes, punch him in the arm, and tell him that she was a big girl; that she could look out for herself.

"_Really, I'm not made out of glass,"_ she would have told him, hands on her hips.

"I know," he murmured back to the empty room. "Your head is as hard as a rock. Still doesn't change the fact that I want to look out after you." Composing himself, he gathered up all her things and made his way back to his room.

oOoOo

Rikku lurched into a sitting position, a half-strangled gasp caught in her throat. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about, just that it had left her with a sense of dread. She instantly regretted moving when the room decided to tilt and spin on her in a way that was not pleasant at all. A wave of nausea had her clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Probably shouldn't have done that," a voice said from nearby. There was movement, then a spark. The lantern at the bedside table flared to life.

"Lina?" she clutched her head as her eyes adjusted to the light. This certainly wasn't the bedroom that Gippal had shown her to two days ago. Most of the room was dark, the lantern giving off a pale golden glow and sending everything else into shadow. _And these are certainly not my clothes,_ she thought, looking down at the oversized shirt she was wearing. The pale lavender color and faint scent of cologne indicated it was one of Gippal's. She took a quick inventory of things and realized that it was the _only_ thing she was wearing. She was hoping that the lantern light was dim enough to hide her fierce blush.

"How does your head feel?" Lina asked, moving Rikku's hair out of the way to check on the healing lump. Two potions later and the large goose egg had been whittled down to a barely noticeable bump on the scalp.

"Like a shoopuf stepped on it," Rikku groaned, gingerly scooting towards the head of the bed so she could lean against the headboard. "What are you doing here?"

"A mother can't visit her favorite son?"

"Gippal's your _only_ son."

Lina pushed her shoulder length hair out of her face. "All the more reason why he's my favorite." She twisted a corner of the blanket in her fingers. "Rin and I have been having… _difficulty_ seeing eye to eye on certain issues. I felt it would be best to give us some space before we wound up killing each other."

Rikku could hardly envision the normally placid Rin laying down the hurt on anyone, which meant that Lina had left before she blew up in his face. It was pretty common knowledge that the two of them had been seeing the other since Gippal had been little. Seeing how she spent had more time around Gippal's home than she had her own when she was a kid, Rin was a sort of secondary father figure to Rikku. Rikku was suddenly curious about what sort of problems they were having, but refrained from asking. Lina wasn't one that liked to be pressed with personal questions; if she wanted Rikku to know anything else, she would tell her in her own time.

Shaking her head, Lina waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "Anyway, enough about me. Before our favorite faction leader comes storming in here again, care to tell me what happened out there?"

Rikku's brow furrowed. "Is he really mad?"

"No. He's more worried than anything. He was hovering, so I sent him out." Lina smiled and pressed another vial of potion into Rikku's hands. "Drink this. It works a lot better when taken internally instead of dabbing it on the injury itself."

Rikku wrinkled her nose at the smell, but gulped it down in one swallow. "Ugh, what was _in_ that?"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that. My own special recipe."

"Couldn't you have made it better tasting?" Rikku considered herself somewhat knowledgeable in alchemy and the spare potions she always mixed had a sweeter aftertaste.

Lina arched her eyebrow in a way that was eerily similar to her son. "It's always the bitter medicines that work the best. Your head doesn't hurt any more, does it?"

"Actually, no. I'm feeling a whole lot better." The room had stopped spinning, which was a good thing. Then she stopped and thought of something. "Gippal _hovered_? He never does that."

Lina sighed. She'd known Rikku since the girl had been a bump under her mother's apron. How she was so blind to the fact that Gippal adored her was beyond Lina's realm of comprehension. "You managed to scare him a great deal. You didn't look good for a while there."

Rikku felt bad for making anyone, especially Gippal, worry about her. "Did they at least get the ship out of the water?"

The bedroom door creaked open. "It's out of the water, but it'll take a while to get it on the transport vehicles. Should be at the temple doorstep any time now." Gippal said, pushing off the doorframe. "How you feeling?"

She smiled up at him. "Good. Your mom gave me something."

He curled his lip. "The stuff that tastes like battery acid or the stuff that smells like old socks?"

Lina rolled her eyes. "When have I ever given you anything like that? I swear, boy. You act as if I spent your entire childhood poisoning you." She stood and ruffled Gippal's hair affectionately; ignoring the brief and perfunctory sneer he gave her. _He may be a grown man, but he's still my son._ "Go easy on her," she whispered in his ear. She slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"So." Rikku fiddled with the sleeves of her shirt. The cuffs fell over her fingers, giving her plenty of fabric to play with.

Gippal cleared his throat. "I brought you some clothes."

"Thank you. Lina put me in this," she tugged at the collar of the shirt, unintentionally letting it gape open enough for him to see the curve of her shoulder. She pushed the blankets off of her and tentatively tried to stand up. _So far so good, legs are cooperating. Go legs!_

Gippal nearly groaned. The hem reached to mid-thigh on her, showing off a generous expanse of tanned skin. Growing up, he'd seen her in all stages of undress, just as she'd seen him. It was just that she was in his bed, wearing _his_ shirt and looking incredibly too gorgeous for her own good.

There was just so much a guy could take. He turned on his heel and stared at the wall as he heard the sound of fabric rustling.

"I'm decent." She sat again to tug on a pair of socks. "Look, about what happened…"

"Yeah." He noticed that she had opted to keep his shirt on, though she had pushed the sleeves up her arms and buttoned the top higher.

"I'm sorry. I screwed up." She bit her bottom lip and looked down. "I shouldn't have gone off alone. I broke rule number one."

"Rikku…" He was about to open his mouth to tell her exactly that, but she looked like she was beating herself up enough as it was. Rubbing the back of his head, he said instead, "It doesn't matter now; we got what we were looking for and that's all."

She looked at him hopefully. "So you're not mad at me?"

He reached out and gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Of course not. I _will_ be mad if it turns out we can't fix the pilot console. Your head left a really big dent in it."

She stiffened under his hands. "What? Oooh, you're such a…"

He grinned. "A what?"

"A _meanie_, that's what." She shoved at his shoulder and pouted. "So you were in it?"

"No. I got a radio transmission from the crew just a little while ago."

Her fingers curled into his jacket. "Did they find anything? Anyone?"

"Nope. What did you see down there?"

She shuddered. "It was awful. I was on the bridge, getting ready to get out and back to the surface. Then this body just came out of nowhere."

"Are you sure? It was pretty dark there; your eyes could have been playing tricks on you."

"No, I'm sure. You don't see something like that and mistake it for something else." She slipped out of his arms and reached for the brush at the foot of the bed. Pulling it through the snarls in her hair, she titled her head. "How did you find me anyway?"

"You'd made it out of the cockpit. Thankfully you had time to light a flare. That's how I found you."

She frowned. "But…" _But I never made it out of there. How…_

"But what?"

"Nothing. So when did you say the ship was getting here?"

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "They said there's more structural damage than we first thought. They're taking it slow and should be here in a few hours."

"Well, if we've got some time to kill," Rikku said, picking her wet clothes up from the floor. "I've got some stuff to do. See you later?"

He stared at her. She was trying to sound tough, like nearly drowning was an everyday occurrence to her, but he knew she was shaken. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek in his palm. "Rikku…"

She froze under his fingers. Tilting her head up, she stared for the longest at him, her eyes widening as his face lowered towards her.

His lips were whisper soft against her cheek, his mouth only inches away from hers. He gathered her up in his arms and held her tightly. "Don't go scaring me like that again," he told her, his cheek resting on the crown of her head.

She splayed her fingers across his back, wishing for the millionth time that they were more than friends. "I won't," she promised.

oOoOo

Rikku woke up disoriented. She had been sitting in her room working on a toy for little Jecht when she had apparently dozed off. He was still too little for hard metal playthings, but she had been playing with a voice recorder hidden inside a stuffed toy. She had ulterior motives though: as much as she loved her new cousin, he hated to be apart from his mother for too long. Rikku thought up a brilliant plan of having Yuna record something on the moogle, so that when Rikku visited and the little darling started screaming, all she would have to do would be to push a button to calm him down.

But first she would have to erase the track of her snoring right into the microphone. Yawning, she put the recorder aside and stretched. The rumbling in her stomach made her leave her room and head towards the kitchens. _For a place that was supposed to house only a few priests at a time, they sure went all out with the kitchen._ A couple of people were still lingering over plates of snacks or cups of coffee, which was the norm. It seemed that one could find anyone wandering around the temple at all hours.

Deciding to eat her newly acquired apple out by the steps, she stopped in her tracks at the front entrance.

"Wow." The ship was a lot bigger than it had looked underwater. It still wasn't as big as her father's, but it was pretty impressive in its own right. Hunger forgotten, she wandered over to the bridge cockpit.

Now that it was on land, she noticed a moldy algae smell coming from the interior. It was unpleasant, but at least it wasn't too terribly overpowering. Ducking under the bare metal window frame, she swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. Her hand brushed over the console. _Big dent, my butt! There's hardly a scratch!_ She stood where she had seen the body, turned around, and didn't see anything. _What were you expecting, for something to come jumping out of the corner? Maybe you were seeing things._

"I'm so glad you're not hurt." Rikku let out a surprised squeak at the sound of the voice behind her. Whirling around, she found someone leaning against the pilot's seat. _Woah, where have you been hiding, handsome?_ She hadn't seen him in the past few days that she'd been at the temple; she would have remembered him. He was tall; a dark red bandanna covering his dark, shoulder length hair. He had a swimmer's build – all lanky muscles and long, lean legs. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing off tanned forearms. "I can't believe you're here." He smiled, showing off even, white teeth and dimples.

_Wait a minute. Where have I heard that voice before?_ He had a smooth tone of voice, his words cutting through the dim light of the ship and sliding over her skin like silk.

"You were at the Moonflow, weren't you?"

He nodded. "What were you doing there?" he asked, his brows furrowing in confusion. "I thought we were going to meet in Zanarkand."

Rikku frowned. "What?"

He shook his head, smiling again. "It doesn't matter. I'm just happy to see you again, Aya." He moved towards her, his grey eyes shining with undisguised love.

She took a step back. "I think you have me confused with somebody else. My name's Rikku."

His smile faltered. "I don't understand." He took a step towards her, making up the distance she had tried to put between them. "Aya..." He reached out his hand as if to brush her cheek.

That was when Rikku noticed something. She had backed completely out of the cockpit, but the man was still inside. He braced his weight on the metal with his left hand, his right hand outstretched past where the window should have been. From the wrist down, his skin had faded, leaving only bone and rotted tendons.

At the sound of her horrified gasp, he pulled his hand back. "What's wrong? Don't you recognize me? It's me, Rayne." As soon as it was back in the cockpit, it was back to normal. He hadn't noticed the change.

Rikku did the only thing she could think of doing: she pivoted on her heel and ran back to the safety of the temple as fast as her legs could carry her.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 5/12

Rating: G

Challenge: Boots, flowers, ninety-nine

Words: 3,438

Summary: Rikku strikes a deal and Cid proves he can act the mercenary.

* * *

"Pick up, pick up, pick up." Rikku jumped from foot to foot, commsphere in hand. "Come on Yunie, answer the darn thing!"

A rustling sound on the other end greeted her. "Yunie?"

"She's asleep," Tidus groggily replied, running a hand over his face, his fingers rasping over a night's growth of stubble. His hair stuck out in all directions and he looked like he had just rolled out of bed. "Do you know what time it is?"

"No. No, I don't." She didn't care at the moment either. "Can you get her?"

"Okay, but I'm warning you; she's not going to be happy." He yawned, showing off a mouthful of teeth before turning his back on the commsphere and leaving the room. Rikku couldn't help but notice that he scratched his boxer clad butt as he left. _Really, talk about not having any modesty!_ Maybe he didn't know she could still see him, though knowing him, she figured he knew and just didn't care. It was his own home; he could act however he wanted to.

_Your house isn't all that big! It shouldn't be taking you this long! _Rikku impatiently shifted her weight from boot to boot and looked anxiously at the front doors of the temple. The unsent guy that had called himself Rayne didn't seem like he wanted to attack her, but one could never be too careful. Not that Gippal's office had anything that could be remotely used as a weapon should he decide to storm the place and attack; Rikku made a mental note to buy Gippal a nice, sharp letter opener the next time she had the opportunity. _What the hell, maybe I should just leave one of my swords in the corner, just for good measure._

A grumpy sounding yawn cut off her train of thought and nearly made her drop the commsphere. "Someone had _better_ be trying to destroy Spira again," Yuna growled. She too looked like she had just rolled out of bed, her hair sticking out even more than her husband's. Yuna's nightgown was rumpled and she definitely didn't look happy.

"Woah there Sunshine," Rikku said nervously, eying her cousin. "Somebody get up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"You do realize," Yuna started, rubbing at red-rimmed eyes. "That I have only been asleep for ninety-nine minutes. That's an hour and thirty-nine minutes, or if you want to get specific, five thousand, nine hundred and forty seconds."

"You never used to keep track of things like that before."

"_You_ give birth to a child that keeps you up at all hours of the night. _Then_ we'll talk." The commsphere screen shifted and moved, showing that Yuna had picked it up and taken it over to the sitting area. "What's so important you can't wait for a decent hour to tell me?"

"There's a dead guy on my airship." Rikku bit her lip. "Technically it's not _my_ airship, it belongs to Gippal, but since he put me in charge of restoring it for him, I'm claiming it until I have to give it over. I almost drowned trying to get the thing up out of the water too. Anyway, I went inside it just a few minutes ago and I met this guy named Rayne. He looked normal when he was in the ship, but then when he got out, he turned all freaky and undead-like. And I think he thinks I'm his girlfriend or something." She took a breath. "_That's_ what's so important that I couldn't wait for a decent hour to tell you."

Yuna sat up straighter. "You almost drowned? Are you okay?" Ah, there was the old Yunie that Rikku was used to talking to.

"There's a _dead guy_ on my airship! Prioritize!" She set her commsphere down and raked her hands through her hair. "He keeps on calling me Aya, whoever she is. Sound _familiar_?"

"I don't know, has he said anything about blowing up Spira with a huge piece of machina?"

"No."

"Does he look in any way like any guy that you used to date?"

"No, he has dark hair. I'm partial to blondes, though I'd make an exception in his case because he's _smokin'_ gorgeous when he's not all zombieish, but…" she caught herself rambling. "That's besides the point."

"Has he tried to hurt you, or has he looked violent in any way?"

"No. Actually, I think he was the one that lit a flare and shoved me out of the ship so Gippal could find me." That was the only explanation she had for Gippal's side of the story.

"Then I don't think he's much of a threat. Some people that die aren't. There's just something here that's keeping him from moving on."

"Okay, so he's a big kitty cat. Could you please come over here and Send him?" Even if he didn't mean her any harm, his presence gave her the willies. Plus, there was someone out there that had loved him once. Judging by how long the ship had been underwater, it was safe to say that she'd died a long time ago as well. It wasn't fair that he was stuck without her when he could easily be reunited.

"Sure, but I don't know when I can get there. The ferries leading to the mainland are down for repairs. Thankfully Tidus made it back home before it happened. They postponed all the Blitz games until everything is up and running again."

"I'd ask Brother to come over and pick you up, but he's busy right now with some mission or another. He told me about it, but I didn't really pay much attention." Out of the blue, a flash of inspiration hit Rikku. "I know! I'll call Pops. He'll be more than happy to pick you up if he could get a chance to stick his hand into the rebuilding project."

"Get in touch with him and let me know. In the meantime, stay away from that ship, just in case I was wrong and this Rayne character isn't as nice as it sounds like he is." Yuna turned her head sharply at the sound of a baby wailing in the background. "I've got to go. He's up again. Call me, I'll be awake." Then the screen went black.

Sitting down in Gippal's chair, Rikku typed up the coordinates for the sphere she knew her father had in his bedroom for emergencies. The little light next to it went off and on for several minutes before Cid picked up.

"Boy," he said groggily. "This had better be important."

"Hello, _vydran_!" she chirped. "Sorry to wake you up."

There was a slapping noise in the background as Cid groped for the bedside lamp. Rikku heard a click, then the bluish screen was bathed in a pale yellow light. Cid scrubbed his eyes with the back of his knuckles. "You aren't Gippal."

"I know."

"Then what are you doing in his office, using his network at this hour of the morning? Do you _know_ what time it is?"

_What is with everybody's obsession with time today?_ "No, but I have a _huge_ favor to ask you."

"Spit it out, girl. The faster you do, the faster I can go back to sleep." Rikku had forgotten just how much of a _grump_ her father was whenever he didn't get enough shut-eye.

"Well, it's like this." She opened her mouth to tell him the real reason, but decided against it. Besides, if she told her father about her accident, he was likely to just yell at her for being careless, which was something that she didn't need right now. So she decided to tell a tiny white lie. "The power source on this thing isn't like the _Fahrenheit_. It's got us all stumped."

"So Gippal needs my help, huh?" There was a _hah, I told you so_ tone in his voice. "The boy said that all he needed was you when I offered to help out."

That was news to her. Gippal wasn't one to turn down help, especially if it was offered from someone that had experience in whatever project he was working on. "He hasn't said anything, but _I_ need your help." She tried for the biggest doe eyed expression she had in her arsenal."Will you _please_ come over here?" She batted her eyelashes for extra measure.

Cid harrumphed. "Stop lookin' at me like that. Of course I'll go help." He scratched at the back of his neck. "For a price."

Rikku groaned. _Now he decides to go all mercenary on me._ "I'm not getting paid for this one, Dad. I don't have anything to offer you."

"Wasn't talking about you, I was talking about your boss. It's his ship, after all. You want my help; he has to help out on a couple of big projects I need extra workers on over here."

"I can't do that!" She didn't know how Gippal would react to her putting her nose into his business. She might be his friend, but there were things that even friends didn't do.

"Fine, then I won't be seeing you later on today. Good night, _tyikrdan_." He moved his hand as if to shut off the commsphere.

"No, wait!" No Cid meant no airship. No airship meant no Yuna. No Yuna meant there wouldn't be anyone to Send the dead guy, which would leave Rikku in a bind. "Which projects? I'm sure he could spare a few people."

"That's more like it. I'm working on the coolant tanks for the workshop forge next. Then there's the auxiliary power supply network for the entire place, and the new drafting room I've been working on still needs a few touches, plus four or five other side projects."

"That's too many. There's no way he'd agree to that."

"Get him to help me on at least five of the big ones then."

"Two, and you pay the workers for their time."

"Three, with pay, not including the power supply. Final offer."

"Done. I don't know how I'm going to convince him though."

Cid gave her an impish grin. "You're female, _flirt_ with him. Worked like a charm whenever your mother wanted me to do something." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down for emphasis.

"_Vydran_! I'm your _daughter_; you shouldn't be talking to me like that!" Plus, that was _way_ too much information about her parent's relationship. "I thought you didn't like Gippal."

"I never said I didn't like him. I just think he needs to start thinking about setting down some roots. When I was his age, I was already married with a son on the way."

"So you throw me at him, just because you think he needs to settle down?" She put her palms to her reddening cheeks. _Note to self: never wake up your father in the wee hours of the morning. _It didn't matter if she really wanted to have her relationship with Gippal turn out to be more than friends, but she didn't want to hear relationship advice from her own father.

"You need to start thinking about settling down yourself, missy. You're not getting any younger, you know."

"We're so not having this conversation!" She needed to wrap it up fast, before her father started waxing poetic on the value of grandchildren. "On your way over here, will you stop by Besaid to pick up Yuna?"

Cid's eyes softened. "See, you should follow your cousin's footsteps. She was the sensible one that decided to stop flying around Spira all willy-nilly and start a family."

"Yes, yes. I promise I'll start acting more like her. Can you just pick her up? It'll give you a chance to see your great-nephew."

"Fine, but extra passengers is going to cost –"

Rikku cut him off. "The baby fix you're going to get is payment enough. You're not going to wrangle another free project out of Gippal." Enough was enough. If she gave her father an inch, he wanted a mile in return.

"All right, fine. I'll see you tomorrow. Let Yuna know I'll be ready to pick her up by noon. It's a nice, _normal_ time." He gave her a pointed look.

"I love you too. Thanks." She reached out and ended the transmission. She called Yuna back up to let her know when to expect Cid. Yuna really needed a vacation or at least some extra help so she could sleep more. Rikku made a note to go over and help with the baby after everything was said and done.

Leaving the office, she tiptoed back to the front doors. Opening them a crack, she peeked outside. Rayne was still inside the ship, pacing back and forth. Closing the doors before he spotted her, she went back to her room. It didn't _look_ like he was some sort of crazy person, or that he even wanted anything from her.

That thought still didn't keep her from crawling into bed with her daggers clenched tightly in both hands, or from sleeping with the lights on.

oOoOo

"Morning." Gippal said, sitting down beside Rikku at the dining table. She had been absently picking at her plate of scrambled eggs while skimming through a pamphlet on the newest elevator schematics she had swiped from Gippal's desk during her commsphere calls. He grinned when she jumped, her fork falling from her fingers and clattering onto the dish.

"Hey." He reached out and took her glass of juice, ignoring the half-grunted protest she gave.

"Sleep well?" The bags under her eyes told him that she hadn't.

"I had a lot of things on my mind last night." _Like hoping that some unsent guy didn't wind up crawling out of my closet or out from under my bed._ She stood up and took her plate to the end of the dining line. Gippal followed her.

"So what's the plan today?" he asked as they made their way toward his office. He held the door open for her and let her go in first. His hand at the small of her back felt _right_, like it should have always been there. Rikku wasn't the only one that had a lot of things on her mind, though the things running through his brain the night before had been completely different than hers. He'd spent the majority of the night sitting up thinking about her and their relationship. _Guess brushes with death will do that to a person,_ he thought. As daylight washed over the temple, he came to the conclusion that it would be best to finally tell her how he felt about her instead of just sitting by and pretending to be nothing more than a good friend.

He just hoped that she would still want to be friends afterwards.

She sat down in one of the chairs opposite his desk. "I guess we'll go around and start taking measurements and notes. There aren't any blueprints, so we're going to have to be careful when we do the reverse engineering process."

"Have any drafters in mind?"

"A couple." She'd seen a few people around the temple that had helped her father in the past with different projects. She needed to go around and talk to them to see if they'd be interested in helping out.

"Hey Rikku?"

Not one to sit still, she was up and snooping around the bookcases that lined one of his office walls. "Hmm?"

"I really like you." He cringed as he said it and rubbed the back of his head. _Great way to sound like some snot-nosed kid there, _he berated himself.

She still had her back to him, a hand playing with a few strands of hair as she perused book titles. "I really like you too," she told him, taking a book out of the shelf.

"Look at me," he finally said, exasperation starting to creep into his voice.

"What?" She turned to face him, her cheeks faintly pink.

"Why haven't we ever worked together?"

She frowned. "We do work together."

He exhaled. "That's not what I meant." He ran a hand through his hair. "You and me. Why haven't we ever gotten together."

She froze. Gippal could all but see the gears spinning in her mind and waited until she got her thoughts in order. "You never asked," she said calmly. She turned and put the book in her hands back on the shelf. "Plus you were always with someone else."

"I'm not with anyone now."

She cocked her hip and stared at him. "You asking?"

He grinned. "Yeah, I'm asking." He leaned against the edge of his desk. "So what do you say?"

She made a big production of thinking his request over. "Oh, I don't know Gippal. I had a couple of offers from guys in Luca a few days ago that were a lot more put together than your _'so what do you say'_ bit." Okay, so that was a lie. Yes, she had been asked out, but this was _Gippal_. She'd been waiting for him to say something like this to her ever since she'd been eight. She just wanted to give him a hard time.

He rolled his eyes, knowing full well what she was doing. Three strides were all it took to stand in front of her. "Rikku," he said, playfully tugging at her braid. "Will you be my girl? Will you go out with me and all that stuff?" His eyes were soft as he looked down at her.

She swallowed. "And all that stuff?" She was trying for a more lighthearted mood, but looking at his expression was making her heart leap into her throat.

He took a step closer, clearly invading her personal space. "Yeah. All that stuff."

She smiled up at him. He was so close that she could smell the spicy scent of his soap and the mint from the toothpaste he had used earlier that morning. "No."

He blinked. "No?" That was unexpected.

She took a step towards him, making him take a step backwards so she could pass by. "The timing's all wrong," she told him. "Ask me again after a few accident-free days."

Something clicked. "Wait a minute, you think I'm only telling you this now because of what happened yesterday?"

"I don't think; I know. If nothing would have happened yesterday, we wouldn't be having this conversation." She crossed her arms in front of her.

He didn't say anything for the longest, but finally opened his mouth. "You said to ask you later, right? Does that mean you're interested?"

She blushed, but didn't back down. "Oh, I'm interested all right. I just want to be sure you're asking because you're interested too."

He laughed low, more as if he were laughing at himself than at her. "I _am_ interested in you." _I have been since you were fifteen_, he added silently.

Her lips curved upward and her eyes sparkled. "Then prove it to me." She held her hands up when he moved towards her, his intent written clearly on his face. She laughed. "Not now. I have to go enlist some drafters."

He grinned. So she was going to play hard to get. She looked adorable with the cocky smirk set on her face. _I can play that game too,_ he thought, determined to keep her on her toes.

"Fine," he told her. "Just do something for me before you leave." He rounded his desk and looked down at the mess of paperwork waiting for him. He was _not_ looking forward to that chore.

"Anything." Her tone was light, but she thought it was funny that he didn't already know she would tap dance through the Thunder Plains with the lightning towers turned off if he asked her to.

He smiled. "I'm glad you said that." He sat down in his chair and stretched his long legs in front of him.

"So what do you want me to do?"

The gleam in his eye should have tipped her off, it really should. "Well, seeing as you want me to wait to show you how I feel, I guess you're going to have to do all the work here."

She arched an eyebrow. "What kind of work?"

He planted his palms on the surface of his desk and leaned forward. "Kiss me." His face settled into a familiar expression that reminded Rikku of the time he had dared her to try and sneak up on a napping cactuar when they were kids. "And not some little peck on the cheek either. Kiss me like you mean it."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 6/12

Rating: PG for language

Words: 3,122

Challenge(s): skirt, petal, caught; dare, stare, strut

Note:Two-Headed Fiesta asked why I have challenge words at the beginning of almost each chapter. They're from the three-word challenge prompts over on the LiveJournal Gippal/Rikku community Quite the Couple.

* * *

"Excuse me?" She stared at him before shaking her head. "What?"

He gave her one of his smirks that she found to be both irritating and yet still irresistible. "You heard me," he teased, raising an eyebrow. "What? Did you expect me _not_ to want to kiss you at all?"

She sputtered. "No," she finally said.

He frowned. "Then you _don't_ want to kiss me?" He stuck his bottom lip out in a mock pout that had her rolling her eyes.

"You know that's not the reason. And don't stick your lip out like that; you're likely to step on it."

He grinned and swiveled in his chair. "Then do something about it. I dare you."

"Gippal…"

"Rikku…"

_Well, at least he's not calling me Cid's Girl any more._ "I don't have time for this."

"Chicken." He was banking on goading her into action. The method worked in the past and it hadn't failed him once.

And wouldn't you know; it still worked.

"Fine," she said, licking her lips somewhat nervously even as her face set in determination. "You asked for it."

He watched as she went around his desk and didn't offer any resistance when she pushed at his chair until it turned on its bearings and he faced her. "Oh, well I wouldn't want to pressure you or anything," he murmured playfully.

She tunneled her left hand into his hair and braced her weight on his chair's armrest with the other. "Shut up," she told him, her lips curving in a smile as she finally, _finally_ kissed him.

He'd expected the somewhat sweet taste of her lip gloss. It was a cross between vanilla and some other confection that he couldn't quite place. He'd already had a taste of it at the Moonflow, though at the time he'd been far too busy trying to save her life to actually notice it. What he hadn't expected was the wave of heat that hit him square in the gut, leaving him breathless. This wasn't some random girl that he'd flirted with for a short time; this was _Rikku_ and he'd dreamt of kissing her for years and now she was _there_ and her hands were in his hair and…

He had kept his hands on the armrest of his chair, but he moved them now so he could trail his fingers along her sides.

"Okay," she whispered, moving away only far enough to speak. Her lips brushed his with every syllable, small kisses in their own right. "I have to work now."

He licked his lips, still tasting her on his tongue. "Yeah, me too."

Her fingers sifted through his hair and she looked down at him. "Okay." She still hadn't moved.

His hand slid down her arm and he captured her wrist, his fingers warm against her skin. "Okay." A single tug put her off balance, giving him enough room to stretch up and fit his mouth over hers. She let him guide her right arm over his shoulder, where her fingers bunched his shirt in her grasp. She didn't protest when he tightened his arms around her waist and only slid her hand from his shoulder to cup the left side of his face when he slanted his lips and took their kiss deeper.

_He's really good at this,_ she vaguely thought, arching her back slightly to press even more of her body against his. She felt his murmur of approval rumble in his throat and then decided to stop thinking and concentrate on the moment.

Gippal grabbed two fistfuls of her shirt in his hands and dragged his lips over her jaw, stopping at the hollow of her throat. _This_ is what he'd been waiting most of his adult life for. Yes, he had shared many first kisses with women over the years, but they all paled in comparison to the compact bundle of energy that was Rikku. The clean citrus scent of whatever perfume she used was strongest behind her ear and he inhaled greedily, wanting to imprint the feel of her under his hands and the taste of her on his lips forever in his memory. His teeth rasped over a sensitive spot on the side of her neck and she gasped, pulling at his hair until he looked up at her. His mouth curved into a soft smile when she kissed him, his hands leaving her waist to gently frame her face. He wanted her to know that he was serious about what was beginning between them. She'd always been an important part of his life; he was determined to treat this new phase of their friendship right.

A sharp noise at the door slowly filtered through Rikku's foggy senses. When she didn't turn around, it was followed by an even louder sound. It took Rikku a long time to realize that someone else was in the room with them and that they had been standing there clearing their throat for a while now. She regretfully broke contact with Gippal's mouth to look over her shoulder.

"Land sakes, Girl," Cid admonished, looking every inch the disgruntled Al Bhed leader. "I said _flirt_ with the boy, not _throw_ yourself at him."

Rikku squeaked and untangled herself from Gippal. Somewhere along the way, she had wound up in his lap and the tip of her little finger had somehow gotten caught in a buttonhole of his shirt.

"Man, if this is how you act professional," Tidus quipped, peering out from behind Cid to stare and earning a dirty look from Rikku, "I sure would hate to see your friendly side."

"Okay, out!" She yelled at him, pointing to the door while trying to get out of Gippal's chair. The hold he had on her leg wasn't helping matters any.

"So are you going to tell me what they're doing here?" he asked her, his thumb absently stroking the skin at the back of her knee.

She bit her lip. "Side project. Shouldn't take very long." She finally slid off his lap and bolted towards the door, grabbing Tidus by the arm as she went. "Talk to you later!"

"So," Cid folded his arms over his chest and watched as Gippal tried to push his hair out of his eyes with one hand and slide a suspender back into place over his shoulder with the other. He would have laughed at the dazed expression on the boy's face, but it would have ruined the tough-ass image he was trying for. "You and I have got to have a talk, son."

oOoOo

Rikku's face was still burning hot as she and Tidus slipped into the main area of the temple. Yuna was standing near the statue of her father, a fussy Jecht in her arms.

"He's been like this all day," she told Lina. The older woman reached out and made soothing noises as she transferred the baby into her arms.

"They always are." She stroked his neck with her index finger and dropped a kiss on his petal soft skin. "Gippal used to drive Amal and me insane the first few months until he started sleeping better." She rocked lightly on her heels and hummed a few bars of a lullaby Rikku was familiar with. Jecht tried to put up a fight, but wound up falling asleep instead.

"How did you _do_ that?" Yuna whispered, afraid of speaking any louder for fear of waking him back up.

"Practice."

"_Teach me_."

Lina quietly laughed and held out a hand to take the bag of Jecht's things. "I'll be more than happy to, but I think your cousin wants to talk to you first. Don't worry about this one; I've got him." Lina walked past Rikku, her skirt swishing against her legs as she stopped to give her a smirk. "He messed your hair up, dear." Rikku's hands flew up to her head to try and fix the damage.

"Something you want to tell me?" Yuna teased.

"If she doesn't, _I_ will," Tidus said, a wide grin breaking out over his face. "I got an eyeful."

"Later," Rikku said, ignoring Tidus and clearing her throat. "We've got a job to do."

Yuna picked up the staff she had leaning against the wall. "So have you been out there yet?" she asked.

"No way. I've been listening at the dining tables and my crew kind of wants to take this slowly." She shrugged. "With everything that happened yesterday, I think that they want to make sure I don't keel over on them." She might have been preoccupied, but she couldn't help but feel touched at the amount of concern that her team had for her welfare.

Tidus pushed open the heavy front doors of the temple and walked in front of the two women. It was a habit on his part; he knew that they could both fend for themselves, but it was something that he could never quite break himself out of. "I took a look when we got here," he said over his shoulder. "I couldn't see anybody on board."

"Maybe he just comes out whenever I'm around," Rikku wondered. "Are there rules for this sort of thing?"

"Everybody's different," Yuna confessed. "Though I've never come across anything describing anyone being so attached to an object or a place that they actually look like they're dead if they leave it before. I asked and Lulu said that she hadn't heard about that before either."

"Well, let's get this started." Rikku didn't think that weapons were necessary, but she was comforted by the fact that she kept two sharp knives in sheathes built into both of her boots just in case.

"Lead the way." Even though he said the words, Tidus still stuck like glue in front of them, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Obviously, he didn't have the same mindset that Rikku had and had decided to err on the side of caution, which was exactly why Rikku was glad Yuna had asked him to come along. "What do you think they used this for?" he asked as they came alongside the ship. It hadn't been a very long walk; the workers had no other choice but to park the wreckage only a few feet away from the temple's front doorstep. How they had gotten it over the series of narrow bridges was beyond her, but then again, she had left that detail up to Gippal to figure out.

"Probably small cargo transport," Rikku replied. "The size is about right for it." She put her hand on the side of the ship. Taking a breath, she stepped inside.

Almost instantly, Rayne appeared in a halo of pyreflies. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern lacing his voice. "You ran out of here like you're seen a ghost." He made a move to step towards her, but Tidus shifted so she was blocked by his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Rayne asked, eyes narrowing in irritation.

Yuna stepped forward. "He is my husband," she explained. "My name is Yuna."

He nodded his head at her in acknowledgement. "Nice to meet you. Aya, what's going on? Where are we?" He frowned and looked out one of the busted out windows. "And why are we in this wreck?"

"How much do you remember?" Rikku asked, one of her hands on Tidus' sleeve. "Or better yet, what's the last thing you remember?"

Rayne frowned in concentration. "I was coming back from Kilika after a fabric run. I remember talking to you on the vid screen going over the Moonflow, then…" he paused, rubbing his chest absently. "There was something wrong, something happened, but…" He shook his head. "I can't remember anything after that."

"We're at Djose," Rikku explained. "Yesterday my team salvaged this ship from the bottom of the Moonflow. I think you must have crashed there several hundred years ago."

Rayne stared at her before throwing his head back and laughing. He caught his breath, wiping at an eye with the back of his knuckle. "Oh, that's a good one, babe," he said, still chuckling. "You know I just finished paying for my ship a month ago. This is a good replica though, but you're not fooling me." He shook his head. "Wrecked. Hah, pull the other one."

Rikku stepped out from behind Tidus. "I'm telling you the truth!" she said. "How else do you explained what happened in the water? You were the one that saved me, after all."

"I…well…" he crossed his arms. "Okay, so I can't explain that one. What were you doing there in the first place anyway?"

Rikku blew air through her nose. "Because I was salvaging this ship."

"You know, the first time was cute. This is _not_ my ship, Aya."

"You're right. This is _Gippal's_ ship and he put _me_ in charge of restoring it because my name is Rikku, _not_ Aya." She poked Rayne in the chest with an index finger. _Wow,_ she thought. _He's pretty solid for a dead guy._

"This isn't funny any more." Rayne looked down at her, fear starting to show in his eyes.

"No, it isn't," she agreed. "It never was."

"So I'm really…" he trailed off, not wanting to say the words.

"I'm afraid so."

Rayne looked like he was processing everything, then he shook his head. "No. No, it can't be true. If I was dead, I wouldn't be able to do things, right? I wouldn't be able to touch you." His hands reached out and grabbed Rikku's shoulders desperately.

"I don't know who you are," Gippal drawled from behind Tidus and Yuna. "But get your hands off my girl."

"Excuse me?" Rayne asked, letting Rikku go so he could face Gippal. Gippal stepped in front of Yuna to better look at him. His stance was relaxed, his hands stuck in the back pockets of his pants. Rikku knew from experience that the easygoing expression on his face was forced, that he was capable of quickly shifting from aloof to dangerous if necessary.

"I haven't seen you around here before. Odd, since all new recruits have to come through me before they get to work on any projects."

Rayne narrowed his eyes and moved so Rikku was partially behind him. "And you are?"

Gippal stuck a thumb behind one of his suspenders. "I'm the boss." He shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. "And you're in my airship harassing _my_ girl."

Rayne rubbed his chest again. "Okay, can someone _please_ explain things to me? Aya, what the _hell_ is going on?"

Rikku bit her lip. "We've been trying to tell you. My name isn't Aya. This used to be your ship, but you crashed." She pointed to the pilot's seat and the large spike of metal that went straight through it. "And I'm guessing that the reason you keep messing with your chest is because of that."

Rayne touched the seat and shuddered. "No," he whispered. "This can't be right."

"I'm sorry," Yuna said. "We can Send you to the Farplane."

"No!" Rayne's chest heaved, clearly panicking. "I'm getting out of here." He took a step out of the open windshield and faded into a vision of bones and tattered flesh.

"Holy crap," Gippal breathed, standing beside Rikku. "Look at yourself. They're telling the truth."

Rayne stared at his ruined hands, shaking his head. "No, we're supposed to be getting married next month."

"I'm so sorry." Rikku looked at her cousin. Yuna nodded and raised her staff.

Rayne's head shot up. "No! Wait, please!" He stepped back inside the ship, instantly becoming whole again. "We promised the other that if something were to happen, that we'd wait so we could go together." He stared at Rikku before looking away. "Please, don't let me go until I know if my Aya is all right."

The look on his face made Rikku's chest constrict almost painfully. "Okay. We can do that," she told him, suddenly close to tears.

Rayne exhaled. "Thank you," he said, dissolving into a cloud of pyreflies before vanishing again.

The four of them stared at the spot he had been. "So that was the dead guy Cid told me about, huh?" Gippal asked, breaking the silence.

"You knew?" Rikku asked. She eyed Yuna and Tidus, both of them looking at her in a sheepish manner. She sighed; she hadn't asked them to keep her news a secret, but she hadn't thought that they would havetold everything to her father either.

"Well, yeah. As soon as your dad told me what the three of you were up to, I headed here." He looked down at her critically. "And what's this about loaning my people out for projects?"

Rikku winced. "I really needed Yunie out here," she said weakly. "Besides, you just got a free engineer. You know Pops is itching to help out while he's here."

"So what do we do about this?" Tidus asked.

Yuna tilted her head. "I guess we can start at the Farplane. How old did you say this ship was?"

Gippal shrugged. "Between seven hundred and a thousand years is the best estimate we could come up with."

"So it's pretty safe to say that Aya is no longer…" Yuna looked around, not wanting to say that another man's love was dead where said man might overhear. "No longer staying nearby."

"Okay, so the Farplane it is. It shouldn't talk long to get to Guadosalam if we used hovers." Rikku looked pointedly at Gippal.

"Oh, like I'm going to force you to walk. You know where the keys are."

"What, you're not coming with?" She almost sounded disappointed.

"I'd really like to, but my work isn't going to do itself." He made a move to leave, but Rikku grabbed his arm.

"Hey! What was all that stuff you said about me being your girl? You still haven't asked me!"

He smirked. "I figured sticking your tongue down my throat earlier was answer enough." He dodged her fist and smiled. "So will you be my girl?"

She frowned. "No. Ask me later." She walked out, strutting past him. "Coming, Yunie?"

Gippal shook his head. "See what I have to deal with?"

Tidus rolled his eyes. "You're the one who picked her." He clapped his hand on Gippal's shoulder. "So, this is the part where I tell you that I'll kick your ass if you hurt her, right?"

"Yep."

"You hurt her, and I'll beat you up."

Gippal snorted. The statement would have been more threatening if Tidus hadn't been grinning from ear to ear. "Duly noted. Who gets to beat her up if _she_ hurts _me_? Why do _I_ have to be the punching bag?"

Tidus laughed. "You're a big guy, you can handle it." He turned around and looked at the ship. "So, while we're here, need a hand?"

"Depends. You as good with a wrench as you are with a blitz ball?"

"I can manage."

"Then welcome aboard."


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 7/12

Rating: G

Words: 2,739

Summary: Yuna and Rikku head off to the Farplane while Cid tackles plans.

* * *

The first thing that Gippal saw when he went into his office was Cid lounging in his chair. "Hello son," Cid said, giving Gippal a smirk. "So you finally decided to move in on my daughter, have you?"

"Oh, leave him alone," Lina scolded, cradling a still sleeping Jecht in her arms. The boy had inherited Yuna's dark hair, Gippal noted. "But he is right; it's about time that you did something."

Gippal sank down in a nearby chair and kicked his feet out in front of him. "Wait a minute, what do you two mean by that?"

Cid looked at Lina. "Is he really that slow on the uptake?"

"Only with Rikku. Then again, I could ask the same thing about her."

"So you _knew_ how I feel about her?" He couldn't believe it.

Lina nodded. "Since you were little. You did have the whole protector thing going on for a while that was pretty obvious."

Cid laughed at the stricken expression on Gippal's face. "Good luck with her, boy. She's going to twist you up in knots until you don't know which way is up." He sighed wistfully, which was a very un-Cidlike move. "She's more like her mother than she knows."

"So I take it you're not mad at me."

Cid stacked his boots on a clean area of Gippal's desk. "Mad? What gave you that idea? You've done a damn fine job here," he made a sweeping motion with his hand. "Reminds me of my earlier days, back when I was young and full of piss and vinegar."

"You still are," Lina said, smirking. "You're just a lot older now."

Cid shook a finger in her direction. "Don't get me started on you. You've got Rin so mixed up he doesn't know what to do with you."

Lina's eyes widened. "You spoke with him?"

"Yeah. Now should I tell him where you are? For future reference, don't go breaking up with a man and then run off without telling him where you're going. We tend to worry."

Gippal sat up straighter. "You broke up with Rin?"

Lina fussed with Jecht's blanket. "Things were moving too fast."

_This is too surreal for words._ "Mom, you've been seeing Rin for over seventeen years. _Glaciers_ move faster than the two of you."

She looked down. "Just tell him I'm fine," she said quietly. She inhaled and looked at Gippal's desk. "This place is a mess," she stated, changing the subject.

"My secretary is out. You're hired until she gets back." He knew that his mother wasn't one to sit idle for long. He didn't know the details about what was going on between her and Rin, but the least he could do was give her something to keep her hands occupied. Plus, Lina was organization personified. Letting her have full control of the chaos that had accumulated in his office would take a huge chunk of the workload off his shoulders.

"Thank you, son." She looked at Cid's feet. "Boots off the desk. You're getting mud on the payroll."

He rolled his eyes but complied. "You need another hand with that ship of yours?"

Gippal shrugged. "I don't know. That's Rikku's call."

"Well, seeing as she's not here and all…" Gippal shook his head. Cid was all but chomping at the bit to get his hands dirty.

"I don't see why not," he said. "I mean, you _are_ going to be here until this business is all sorted out."

"Can't let my niece and her family walk back home, now can I?"

"Absolutely not. So I don't see anything wrong with it." He sifted through a few papers on the desk until he found one with Rikku's wide, looping handwriting on it. "Here's a list of engineers she picked out. Have at it."

"And what about you? Boy your age shouldn't be stuck behind a desk."

Lina stood up and nudged Gippal with a hip. "Go, I'm on the clock here." She smiled fondly at her son. She'd seen the look of dread he had given the piles of paperwork. "I'll get this settled."

Gippal leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Ma."

"It's what I'm here for."

Cid watched as Lina carried a sleeping baby one-handed and scanned paper titles with the other. Her son had grown into a fine man. He wondered what her stance on grandchildren was.

oOoOo

Drums created a pleasant bass counterpoint to lilting pipes as Yuna and Rikku walked into Guadosalam. Things had changed for the better since Tromell took up the mantle of leader four years ago. New shops had popped up, the wares varying from cloth made in Besaid to spears native to Gagazet. Apparently Trommel had decided that the Guado had spent enough time secluded from the rest of Spira and had opened up avenues of trade that hadn't previously been there before.

And just like the now bustling city, the Guado also seemed to be flourishing. Children ran up and down the paths, their laughter mingling amongst the music.

"I wonder how LeBlanc felt about getting her eviction notice," Rikku wondered, noting the absence of syndicate members.

Yuna shrugged. "I heard she didn't put up much of a fuss, especially when she moved in with Nooj."

Rikku shuddered. "You think she redecorated the old League headquarters?" As eclectic as she was, even Rikku had to admit LeBlanc's taste leaned towards the tacky side.

Yuna snickered. "Lucil would have killed her." The two women's styles were like night and day. As loyal to Nooj as Lucil was, neither Yuna nor Rikku could imagine her letting something as garish as bright red and purple velvet draperies with hearts emblazoned all over them go up all over her old post. The statue of Nooj could possibly stay, even if it was on the creepy side.

They stopped at the entrance to the Farplane. "You ready to do this?" Yuna asked. The portal was the same as it had been on their pilgrimage years ago, the surface swirling with pyreflies.

"Yes." As a rule, Rikku hated going to this place. She had balked at the opportunity to go in six years ago, not wanting to come face to face with specters of her past. _Memories are nice, but that's all they are,_ she thought, harkening back to the old Al Bhed adage while she took a deep breath to steady herself. Seeing people who had died didn't bring them back, it just solidified the gap between them and the living even more for her. "Shame that Tidus didn't come along."

Yuna shook her head. "No. I…_we_ didn't want anything happening." Tidus had initially wanted to come with them, but she had firmly said no. Yuna had been terrified that something would have happened to pull him away from her that no amount of praying to the Fayth would fix. It was a risk she hadn't been willing to take. "Besides, someone needed to stay behind and watch Jecht."

Rikku wound her fingers around her cousin's hand. Giving a squeeze meant to bolster them both, she stepped forward. "Come on, let's do this."

Far below the viewing platform, the Farplane Glen looked as it had four years ago. Pyreflies buzzed about in the ethereal way they had, the glow from each of them lending a peaceful feeling to the atmosphere. Even here, the sound of faraway pipes could be heard, joining in with the rushing waterfalls nearby. It was soothing, but it didn't make Rikku feel any better about being there.

"Oh, look." Yuna looked over to where a hazy vision of Auron, in his trademark red coat and glasses, arched his scarred eyebrow at them. He rested the hand guard of his sword on his shoulder as if to ask them what they were doing standing around and waiting.

_Huh, trust me to think of the one person that could make me jump into whatever I'm scared of._ "He's probably getting after me for being such a chicken," Rikku said, putting her hands on her hips. She stared him down, not surprised when he stared back unfazed. "You don't have to say it like that, you know!" Auron smirked at her and then dissolved back into nothingness.

"What does Aya look like?" Yuna asked, looking away from the image of her parents.

Rikku shrugged. "I don't know. Probably a lot like me, since Rayne thought I was her. I guess we just think of somebody that fits the description." Rikku closed her eyes and concentrated.

"She's very pretty," Yuna commented.

"She's here?" Rikku asked, opening her eyes. She looked at the woman in front of them and sighed. "That's not her."

"Who is it then?"

Rikku stared and gave a faint smile to the woman. She had her hair cut short and layered, giving the effect of having a halo of pale gold around her head, much like dandelion fluff. Her clothes looked as if they were designed for a man; the brown workman's pants fit her slender waist but were rolled up at the cuffs to expose scuffed boots and the dark olive shirt looked to be a size too big for her petite frame, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her green-swirled eyes were kind and she smiled at both of them. If you discounted the tiny differences, she looked very much like an older version of Rikku.

"That's Sayde, my mom. I'm surprised I still remember what she looks like; she died when I was really little."

"How did she die?" Yuna could remember her mother talking about a sister when Yuna was young, but she never really went into much detail.

"It was an accident. She went down to the boiler room to mess with a valve that had started to act up. They said the built up pressure caused the explosion. Dad got to her before she bled out, but it was too late to do anything to help her." Even now, Rikku could remember how Cid had looked that day. He had sat there holding onto Sayde long after she had gone, her blood staining his hands and shirt. It was the first time Rikku had ever seen her father cry.

"Cid blamed himself, didn't he?"

"Yeah. He would have gone down there himself, but Mom had insisted." She looked down. "Pops couldn't ever deny her anything, he loved her so much. Afterwards, it was as if a part of him had died alongside her.

"He was so distant at first, hardly paying any attention to the fact that he still had three kids to take care of. We'd always been close friends with Gippal's family; his dad was one of Cid's friends since back when they were kids. Lina took my brothers and me in for a while and Amal talked with him."

"Did it work?" Yuna looked at the man who had materialized next to Rikku's mother. If you put an eye patch on him, he would have been an exact copy of Gippal, right down to the devil may care grin.

"It must have. He seemed like he pulled himself together, but something was different. Before, he hadn't really pushed Keyakku to be leader after him. It was common knowledge that it was going to happen and everything, but after Mom died, it was almost like making sure Keyakku learned everything he'd need to know was the only thing that kept Dad going most days. He didn't exactly ignore Brother and me, but he didn't pay as much attention to us either. He'd finally started acting like himself again when we found his airship, but then we lost Home and Keyakku…" Rikku glanced at her brother's image. Keyakku was taller than their mother, but bore a lot of physical resemblance to her. "It didn't take him long to slide back to how he was before. This time he tried to teach Brother like he had Keyakku, but it didn't work out so well. He'd always compare the two of them and no matter how hard he tried, Brother always came up short. Then one day, he just stopped trying and went out on his own. He found the _Celsius_ soon after and I tagged along."

She stopped talking and looked at Yuna. "Wow, is our family messed up or what?" she asked, swallowing the thick knot that had formed in the back of her throat. "I know I blamed Pops for not being there when we were kids, but I could have tried harder too."

Yuna squeezed her hand. "You and Cid are trying to make up for lost time now," she told her. "It's a start."

"You're right. Sometimes I can see the father I knew before Mom died. We've had our share of fights, but I'm glad that we're spending more time together." She gave a last glance towards the people in front of them before turning away. "Come on. Aya's not here."

oOoOo

Tidus greeted them both when they made their way back to Djose. "Man, your dad is tough," he told Rikku over the hum of the hover's engines. He held out a hand to help them both down as Rikku killed the motor and pocketed the keys. "He's got a bunch of people scattered all over that thing."

Sure enough, workers had started in on analysis, carefully recording each measurement as they worked systematically around the ship. They all looked like kids set loose in a candy store, with Cid directing everything as the biggest kid of them all. _Wow, Pops sure doesn't waste any time_, she thought. Gippal stood next to her father, a pencil in one hand as he jotted down notes onto a clipboard he held in the other. Every now and then he'd look up and say something to Cid, who would answer back.

Gippal managed to spot them as they walked over and the easy smile he gave her was enough to make Rikku's heart flutter in her chest. "Any sign of Rayne?" she asked, trying to ignore the way her knees had wobbled at the mere sight of the smile Gippal had flashed her way.

Tidus shook his head. "Not a peep. Either he doesn't want us to see him right now or he's still in shock over finding out he's dead. Did you two find anything?"

"Nothing," Rikku answered. "Do you think she didn't get Sent when she died?"

"It's a possibility," Yuna mused. "Or maybe she's waiting somewhere for Rayne, like they had agreed to wait."

Rikku snapped her fingers. "He said something about meeting her in Zanarkand. Do you think she might be there?"

"It wouldn't hurt to look," Tidus said. "You think Cid will let us borrow his airship?"

"Hey," Gippal said, walking up to the three of them. "Any luck?"

It felt right to have his arm over her shoulder. It also felt right to lean against his side. "No, but we're headed to Zanarkand. All we need is Pops to let us borrow his ship."

Gippal twirled a key on his finger. "Already ahead of you. He said that if we scratched his baby up, there'd be hell to pay."

Rikku looked at him. "How…" she started.

"I had a hunch we'd need it, so I asked while you were gone." He winked at her. "Details are my job, remember?"

"Well, good luck," Yuna told them. She stood on tiptoe and gave Tidus a quick kiss. "I'm going to check on our son. You _do_ know where he is, right?"

Tidus looked sheepish. "Yes?" Yuna rolled her eyes.

"Check my office," Gippal offered. "Mom's been monopolizing the babysitting time."

"Thanks. Have fun, you guys!" With that, Yuna headed inside the temple.

"So, when do we leave?" Gippal asked.

"We? What, your work suddenly figure out how to do itself?" Rikku teased.

"No, but a certain leader told me that a guy my age shouldn't be spending so much time behind a desk. Cid has things covered while we're gone."

Rikku smiled. She was really glad he was coming along. "Okay then. Hand over the keys and we'll get going."

He shook his head. "In your dreams. I've been dying for a chance to fly that thing."

"You wish! Gimmie!"

"No way!"

Tidus walked behind them and shook his head. "Kids," he muttered, climbing aboard before one of them arm wrestled the keys from the other.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 8/12

Rating: PG

Challenge: treasure, awkward, promise

Words: 4,649

Summary: The group heads to Zanarkand to find some answers. Gippal and Rikku have a heart to heart talk.

* * *

As it turned out, Gippal's longer legs helped him reach the bridge before Rikku, which was the only reason he got to pilot the ship to Zanarkand. Though she put up a fuss, Rikku really didn't mind. Not having to fly gave her an opportunity to take in the scenery they were going over. The wind whipped her hair away from her face as soon as she stepped onto the deck. The altitude they were at leant for colder temperatures, making her wish for her old multicolored red and orange scarf she used to wear all the time. She rubbed her hands over her bare arms and stared down. She couldn't tell exactly where they were at, but it looked as if they were coming close to Macalania. The trees had thinned out significantly over the years, making way to snowy drifts in the north and grassy plains to the east. It was kind of sad, how something so pretty – yet full of fiends – was slowly disappearing from the world.

The ship lurched a bit as it hit a pocket of air. Rikku took a step sideways to balance herself before stretching her arms out to her sides. She closed her eyes, content to feel the wind blow through her clothes.

"You look like you did when we were kids," Gippal commented, coming up behind her. "You'd always pretend you were flying when we got to go along on hover rides."

"You always yelled at me for not holding on right." Rikku leaned back, relaxing against his chest. His hands slid down her arms and he tangled his fingers with hers. She sighed contentedly, bringing their joined hands up so his arms were wrapped around her. "I always figured you were afraid of heights."

"Not the heights, just falling from them."

"And now?"

He grinned and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I've got you here to keep me safe." He noticed that she had gone still in his arms. "What's wrong?"

She moved away from him and went inside the holding bay, Gippal close behind her. "Why now?" she asked him. She saw the expression on his face and continued. "I'm not saying that I don't want this, but what made you want me?"

He moved so he was right in front of her. "It's always been about you, Rikku. I've felt this way since I was sixteen." He smiled ruefully. "I was just too stupid to tell you."

Rikku swallowed hard. She had never known. _If I had, this would have been a lot easier._ "That long, huh?" It wasn't the most eloquent thing she could have said to his confession, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

He stepped forward until they were almost nose to nose. "Yeah, that long." He reached out and rested his hands on her hips. "But I want us to agree on something first."

"What?"

"No matter where this leads, I want us to promise to stay friends." His fingers tightened on her skin and he stared her straight in the eye. "I don't care how I might feel about you; I don't want to jump into this if it means losing your friendship."

She cupped his face in her hands and smiled at the way he turned his head to press a kiss against her palm. Standing up on tiptoe, she lightly touched her lips to his. "We'll stay friends," she whispered.

He grinned and pulled her closer to him. "So now that I told you I've had a thing for you since we were kids, what made you suddenly go along with all this?"

She blushed and put her head on his shoulder. "Maybe I thought you finally grew up," she teased. "And _maybe_ I think you're kind of cute."

He scoffed. "Just _kind_ of?"

"Like I need to feed your ego any. You know you're gorgeous." She looked up at him and bit her lip. "And maybe because I've felt this way about you even longer than you've felt about me."

His eye widened. "Why didn't you say anything?"

She looked away. "I didn't know how."

He brushed his nose against the side of her cheek. "Give me a chance, Rikku." He held his breath, afraid that she'd shoot him down again. "And I'm not asking because I could have lost you or because I was jealous over some other guy; I'm asking because I want to be with you."

She smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." She was going to say something else, but Gippal's mouth crushed over hers and whatever she was going to say completely flew out of her head. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and returned his kiss enthusiastically.

"I sure hope that was a yes," he finally said when he let them up for air. "Because you've totally ruined me for other women if it wasn't."

She gave a shaky laugh and gasped when his fingers trailed over her sides. "It was." She paused and thought about what he had said. "Jealous?"

He shrugged. "Okay, so maybe when Rayne thought you were his girlfriend and went all touchy-feely, I got a little bit jealous." His hands traced over the small of her back. "I really didn't like that feeling," he admitted.

"Me either." She thought about all the women around the temple and the way they looked at him. "So here's another rule: no jealousy while we're doing this."

He brushed a kiss over her forehead. "Deal."

She leaned back, suddenly thinking of something. "Gippal?"

"Yeah?"

"If we're both here, who's flying this thing?" She had a sudden vision of them plummeting from the sky and crash landing in the Calm Lands. The attractions would never be the same, but somehow her mind saw Tobli making a profit off of the event.

"Autopilot. I punched in the coordinates and we should get to Zanarkand within the hour."

She let out a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding. "All the same, I'm going to head back to the bridge. Coming?"

He shook his head. "Nah." He yawned. "I think I'm going to go find someplace to grab some shuteye." He stepped away from her and let his fingers slide away from her hands. "Call me when we get there, okay?"

Rikku watched him walk away and couldn't keep the goofy grin off her face if she tried.

oOoOo

"So did you finally give the guy a break?" Tidus asked, swiveling in the pilot's seat.

"You were listening?" Rikku narrowed her eyes.

He whistled. "I _might_ have _accidentally_ turned on the intercom speakers."

Incredulous, she slapped her hands on her hips. "_Accidentally_?"

The embodiment of boyish innocence nodded. "Of course."

She growled. She couldn't keep the angry look up though, not with Tidus staring at her like he was. "You drive me crazy, you know that?" she asked, shaking her head.

"Yeah, but you still love me."

"_Someone_ has to. Where are we?" she asked, changing the topic.

Tidus shrugged. "I'm guessing we're passing over Bevelle. We should hit Gagazet pretty soon." He arched his eyebrow. "So are you going to tell me what went on over there or am I going to have to ask Yuna later when you tell her?"

"You're not going to give up, are you?"

"Nope."

She perched on top of the pilot's armrest. "It looks like Gippal and I are going to start seeing each other." She twisted her fingers in her lap. "It feels weird though."

"Why?"

"Why? Because he's my friend! To have him look at me like he's interested or something after resigning myself to being the girl he always just hangs around takes some getting used to."

"Yuna's the girl I always hang around with and I look at her like I'm interested," he smirked, enjoying his friend's discomfort. "Or _something_."

"Okay, that was a little bit too much information there. You two are different though; you have that kind of happily ever after sort of love. You deserve it."

"And you think you don't?"

She looked down. "I don't know."

He reached over and gave her knee a reassuring squeeze. "I think you do. You're just too afraid to let it happen."

"You think?"

"You'll never know for sure if you don't let go and just see where things go." He tilted his head and nodded. "So anyway, there's supposed to be a bunch of monkeys waiting for us?"

The non sequitur gave Rikku pause. "Yeah, there should be," she finally said, realizing that Tidus had ended the topic of her relationship. "Lots and lots of them."

oOoOo

"Man, you weren't kidding about the monkeys," Tidus breathed, looking around at the masses waiting under the airship.

"Yeah, it's a good thing that the _Fahrenheit_ hovers." Rikku braced her hands on the deck's side as she looked over. She'd managed to land the thing at the beginning of the ruin path farthest away from the old blitz dome, but the closest she could get it to the ground was about five feet.

"We make a jump for it?" Gippal asked, not looking forward to landing in a pile of simian fur.

"Don't see any way around it." Rikku had strapped her larger red daggers to her sides in preparation for dealing with whatever fiends might still inhabit the ruins. Sliding her hands through their metal grips so she wouldn't accidentally stab herself on the way down, she tried to look for a landing spot that wouldn't be covered in monkeys. Taking a breath, she did a running leap off the ship and rolled to a stop on the ground below.

"Oww," she grumbled, brushing off bits of gravel and dirt from her behind. She looked up and watched as Tidus made a slightly less awkward landing, then as Gippal jumped. True to form, he managed to look classy as he landed on both feet, not a hair out of place.

"So where do we start?" he asked, looking around.

Rikku shrugged. "I don't know. Hey Tidus, where were most of the houses built?"

"Towards the right, near and in the water. Most of them were houseboat types that were just tied to the docks."

"That might be a good place to start looking. If Rayne and Aya had a house, that would probably be the best place for them, right?" Rikku picked her way across stones half submerged in the water.

"Be careful, we don't know how stable things are," Tidus warned. He stared out at the inky blackness and tried to envision just how the Zanarkand he remembered looked compared to how it was now. If he closed his eyes, he could see the vibrant lights of the metropolis, hear the never ending hum that the city that never slept gave off, feel the life that had practically pulsed from every piece of stone. For a moment, he wished he was back there.

Then he opened his eyes. No matter how grand his past had been, his present in the modest beachfront village of Besaid was even better. If given a choice, he would choose the soft torchlight and calming surf over bright lights and buzzing crowds any day. It was where he was meant to be, where his heart ultimately lay.

"Maybe this works like in the Farplane," Gippal suggested, hopping up on the remains of a metal rooftop.

"Worth a try," Rikku said. She clenched her eyes shut and thought about someone that could pass as her twin. "Anything?"

"Nothing."

"Nope, not here either." Gippal shook his foot, trying unsuccessfully to get a monkey from climbing up his pant leg. The monkey chattered as it grabbed handholds on Gippal's shirt, ultimately ending up on tip of his head. "Don't get comfortable up there," he warned, trying to pick it off. The monkey just swung down so that it was eye to eye with him and shrieked.

Rikku pressed her lips together, but a guffaw managed to slip through. "If you're finished attacking the wildlife," she said, giggling, "maybe we could try somewhere else."

oOoOo

Five hours, numerous fiends, several potions, and a scraped knee later, they hadn't come closer to finding Aya. They did manage to find a few treasure chests Isaaru had left behind when he closed the ruin tour, but the contents had long since gone rancid and were worthless.

"Oww," Rikku moaned, eyeing the raw skin of her knee. She'd gotten hurt rolling out of the way of a particularly nasty Behemoth's path of destruction. "This is getting us nowhere." She reached into her belt pouch to grab the makings for spare potions, but came up empty. Groaning, she sat down hard on a broken stair riser.

Gippal bent over her leg, his hands warm on her skin. "You're such a big baby," he teased, his lips moving silently as he chanted out a healing spell he had learned from the Crimson Squad. He didn't know any of the higher ones, but he could cure small injuries. He couldn't help but notice the way Rikku's skin broke out into goosebumps, especially when he stroked her knee with the backs of his fingers. "But you're right; we need another way to do this." His pistol was running out of ammunition; he was going to have to resort to the knife he kept in his boot if they kept on running into fiends like they had been.

"Maybe we're going about this wrong," Tidus said, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. Nice memories of the once whole Blitz dome – the excitement he had felt before each game, the rush he had gotten listening to the crowd cheer him on, the feel of the water rippling around him as he played – had been displaced by slightly creepy images preserved within Pyreflies of former pilgrimages long gone. He had counted no fewer than seven past images of his own pilgrimage with Yuna and Rikku and at least three images of his father's. The faster they could wrap this mission up, the better, in his opinion.

"So what do you suggest?"

Standing up, Tidus looked around. Taking a deep breath, he shouted. "Aya!" Rikku and Gippal stared at him as he made his way further into the old Blitz dome, shouting every other step. Then they looked at each other and shrugged.

"Aya!"

oOoOo

"Guys! I think I might have found something!" Rikku shouted, climbing back up from where she had scouted ahead. "It's really faint, but I'm thinking it's somebody."

"This place gives me the creeps," Tidus muttered, looking around where they had fought Yunalesca six years ago.

"I thought that something was off when Yunie, Paine and I came back here. It felt so sad," Rikku said. "At first I thought it was just the impression Yunalesca left behind, but maybe I'm wrong."

Gippal pointed at the faintly glowing figure in the corner. "Is that it?" he asked.

"Yes. So what do we do now?"

"Don't look at me, this is your adventure."

She scowled. "But it's _your_ airship. Figure something out."

Gippal pressed his lips together in a thin line before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting out a greeting. "Hello?" The glow pulsed and then grew brighter.

Rikku poked her head around Gippal's arm. "Say something to her," she said, her fingers bunching into his shirt.

Gippal lifted his arm and looked at her. "You're a big chicken, I hope you know," he whispered to her.

"Yeah, me and the chocobos. Just make sure it's her," she hissed back.

Gippal let out a long suffering sounding sigh before looking at the glow. "Are you Aya?" he asked, taking a tentative step forward as the glow slowly became a hazy outline of a person.

"I am," the outline solidified. "Who are you? No one's talked to me for a while, you're the first ones."

Rikku stepped out from behind Gippal. "Wow, she really does look like me." There were tiny differences, but the physical resemblance was uncanny. Aya's hair fell down her shoulders in thick, tumbling waves, but it was the same honey blonde color as the windblown mass Rikku had tried and failed to tame into a messy bun at the back of her head. Their builds were similar, but Aya's arms were more toned and Rikku's legs shapelier. "No wonder Rayne thought I was her."

At the mention of Rayne's name, Aya gasped and held her hands to her chest. "You've seen Rayne recently? Where is he, is he all right?"

Gippal glanced at Rikku, who looked at Tidus.

"What happened here?" Tidus asked instead, trying to see if maybe Aya could tell them what she remembered before they told her that Rayne was as dead as she was.

Aya looked around, her hands smoothing the material of her purple skirt. "I don't know. The last thing I can remember is going to a Blitz game. I'd gotten the night off from the café and a few friends and I were going to see the Abes play…" her eyes widened as she suddenly recognized Tidus. He gestured for her to continue. "The next thing I knew, people were screaming and running all over the place. I tried to keep up with my friends, but I couldn't." She looked down at her hands.

Tidus grimaced. "Sin."

Aya looked up at them. "I'm dead, aren't I?" Rikku nodded. Aya let out a breath and closed her eyes. "I thought so, I mean, I can remember part of the dome falling down and after looking at this, there couldn't have been a way that I had survived. I was just too afraid to ask all the other people that have come through here."

_She means all the summoners and their guardians,_ Rikku guessed. "I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say.

Aya swallowed. "But it hasn't been all that long ago, has it? There's nothing here to note the time, but it couldn't have been but a few weeks ago, right?" Her eyes widened. "Oh no, Rayne is probably so worried about me. I remember speaking to him while he was flying back from one of his shipment drops, but his screen blacked out on us." She reached out to grab Rikku's hands, but her own just passed through without resistance. "You have to tell him where I am for me. We always promised that if we were separated, we'd wait for the other so we could be together."

Gippal shook his head. "There was a crash. He's already waiting for you at Djose." There was no way to tell her gently and he stood there as his words sank in. "He's been waiting for you for several hundred years."

Aya's eyes closed, silvery tears running down her cheeks to drip off her chin. She pressed her lips together until they became a thin line and hugged her arms, her fingers going white around the sleeves of her blouse. "Did he suffer?" she asked when she composed herself enough to speak.

"He doesn't even remember going," Rikku told her. "All he's been worried about is you."

Aya let out a loud sob before pressing a shaky hand to her mouth. "As soon as I figured out that I had died," she started out slowly, "I've hoped to see him again to make sure he was okay. I always hoped that he would live on, that he'd find someone else to fall in love and grow old with so he'd never be alone."

"You love him, don't you?"

Aya nodded, wiping at her face. "With all my heart. I always will."

Rikku took a breath. "Right. I'm going to find a way to get him here."

Aya's face brightened. "You will?"

"He's stuck around his old airship, so we're going to fix it up and fly it back here, I promise."

Aya clasped her hands to her chest again. "I don't know how to thank you. I'd give anything to be with him again."

Gippal held out his hands. "Just wait for us here. That'll be enough."

"I've gone outside the dome, but that's as far as I've ever gone without getting really tired. I'll wait for you there." She looked around. "Hundreds of years. I've waited this long, waiting a while more won't hurt. Just do something for me?"

Rikku tilted her head. "What is it?"

"Tell Rayne that I love him. And tell him I'm fine, that he doesn't need to worry about me." She smiled sadly and wiped at her cheek again. "He always fusses over everything."

Rikku nodded. "We'll tell him."

Aya's body dissolved back into multicolored lights. "Thank you."

oOoOo

The trip back to Djose was a quiet affair. Rikku spent most of it pacing the bridge, which had driven Gippal crazy. He had threatened from the pilot's seat to put the ship on automatic and sit on her for the rest of the trip if she didn't stop, which resulted in Rikku sitting in the co-pilot's chair and brooding until they touched down near the temple.

"Well, how was it?" Yuna asked, rocking a sleeping Jecht in her arms.

"Productive," Rikku said. "Here, we brought Vidina a pet." She handed Yuna the monkey that had managed to stow away.

"I'm _sure_ that Lulu will appreciate the gesture," Yuna said dryly, rolling her eyes as the animal clambered up her arm to rest on her shoulder. "Besides the monkey, what did you find?"

"Aya. She took the whole being dead thing a lot better than Rayne did. As soon as we get this ship off the ground, we're brining him back to her. She said she'd wait for him."

Yuna motioned for Tidus to get the monkey off her shoulder. "And anything else?"

Rikku glanced over at Gippal, who had gone to check with Cid on what had been done in his absence. "We're going to take it a day at a time," she said.

Yuna leaned in. "Anything _else_?"

Rikku rolled her eyes at her cousin's blatant attempt to fish for information. "He's a terrific kisser. Like knock your socks off terrific."

"I hate to break in," Tidus said. "But I was checking the sphere network on our way back. The repairmen fixed the ferries and the postponed Blitz games are starting up again tomorrow."

Yuna sighed. "I guess that means we're going to have to get moving."

Rikku ran a finger down Jecht's cheek. "I wish you could stay longer, but I'm glad that you came."

"Just like old times, wasn't it?" Tidus asked, slinging his arm over Rikku's shoulder. "It was fun."

Rikku groaned. "Only you would think that fighting fiends is entertaining."

"Gotta stay in shape somehow." He hugged her, then ambled off to speak with Cid.

"Keep me posted on the Gippal front?" Yuna asked.

"You'll be the first one to know if anything happens," Rikku promised.

"You find what you were looking for?" Cid asked, coming up towards them and wiping his hands on a rag.

"Yeah. You don't waste any time," Rikku quipped pointing with her chin at the workers who were finishing up their measurements.

"Thought you wanted to get this one over with quick," he replied gruffly. "All the projects I put you in charge of back Home aren't getting done, you know. This little side trip of yours is putting everything off schedule."

Rikku stood on her tiptoes and kissed his bristly cheek. "Thank you," she said. "I really do appreciate your help."

Cid's cheeks darkened. "Aw, wasn't anything. Still don't know what's up with the power source though," he said, covering up the wave of fatherly pleasure at his daughter's sentiment. "You're on your own there."

"Hey, you gave me a big head start. It's better than nothing."

"Guess I've got to ship the three of them back to Besaid now." He glanced longingly at the airship. Part of him wanted to stick around and tinker, but another part acknowledged that the project was his daughter's. He had to let go some day, but it didn't make it any easier. "I'm just a sphere call away."

Rikku smiled. "I know."

Cid hesitated, but then reached out to hug her. "I'm so proud of you, Sprocket," he whispered against her hair.

He hadn't called her by that name since she had been a little girl and forever tagging along in his shadow. Tears stung in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She'd lost count of how many times she had wanted her father's approval in the past. "I love you, Dad."

"Hey now," Cid said, his voice thick. "No sense getting all emotional on me. You've got a job to do."

"I'll be seeing you around," Rikku said, waving at Yuna and Tidus as they boarded her father's ship.

"He acts tough, but he's just a giant teddy bear, isn't he?" Lina asked, sidling up next to Rikku, a smirk on her lips.

"Don't say it too loud," Rikku warned. "Word gets out and there goes his reputation for being a badass."

Lina laughed. "My lips are sealed. Come on, you look like you could use a shower and a change of clothes."

Rikku wrinkled her nose at the state of her clothing. Spending most of the day attacking monsters and running around really did work up a sweat.

oOoOo

Hair still damp from her shower, she bounced down the temple steps and towards the ship.

"Did you find her?" Rayne appeared as soon as Rikku stepped aboard the bridge. "Is she all right?"

Rikku nodded. "She's fine. She told us to tell you not to worry about her."

"Not worry? How the hell am I supposed to do that? She could be sick or something."

"No, she can't."

Rayne stopped pacing and stared. "What do you mean?"

Rikku winced. "This ship is around seven hundred to a thousand years old. There's no way that she could have possibly lived that long."

Rayne's face fell and he braced his arms on a nearby wall. "How?" He swallowed, turning his head to look at her. "I mean, she grew old and died, right?"

There was so much hope in his voice that Rikku hated to be the one to tell him the truth. "There was an attack. Zanarkand was destroyed. She looked very young."

Rayne's mouth twisted in anguish. With an inarticulate cry, he kicked at a nearby panel, sending a shower of rusted metal particles into the air. "I want to see her," he said, sinking down into the pilot's seat, his hands over his face.

Rikku reached out and impulsively touched his shoulder. She didn't know why, but her fingers touched firm flesh instead of going through to the chair. Maybe different ghosts acted differently. "You will. I have a plan." She bit on her thumbnail as she told him about rebuilding the ship and then flying to Zanarkand and Aya.

"I'm with you," Rayne said as she finished. "I don't need to rest, so I can work twice as hard."

"There's only one problem," Rikku countered. "Every time you leave here, you get all skeleton looking."

As if to discount her, he went to the open windshield and stuck his hand out of the opening. At once, his fingers shifted to ragged bones and tendons, making his shoulders sag in defeat. "Did she say anything else?"

"She wanted me to tell you how much she loves you."

Rayne straightened his shoulders and with a determined look on his face, went towards the windshield again. "For her," he said, closing his eyes and stepping down. Rikku looked on in surprise as he stood there, just as whole on the ground as he was on the ship. He looked down at himself and then looked up at Rikku triumphantly. Cracking his knuckles, he surveyed the ruin of his old ship. "Now let's get to work."


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Of bad gil pieces and airships 9/12

Rating: G

Words: 4,688

Challenge: gloves, dirty, crystal

Summary: Construction continues and Rikku razzes Gippal about his prowess with electrical circuits.

* * *

Welding pieces of metal together for hours on end wasn't one of Rikku's favorite ways to spend a day. She liked the process well enough and respected the effort it took to create, but she could think of other ways to pass the time. Welding pieces of metal together for hours on end in an extremely humid environment was even worse. She was sweaty and dirty and probably smelled pretty funky. She took a whiff and wrinkled her nose. Yep, definitely funky. She paused, taking the time to wipe a bead of sweat off her forehead before it fell into her eyes. The sky around Djose was a weird greenish yellow color; she figured there was going to be one huge summer storm coming in the near future. Gully washers, she'd heard them called once. The microburst of rain would come down in sheets and then be over in a matter of minutes.

_I just wish it would hurry up and get here. At least then it'll cool off._ She sharply jerked her head forward to drop the welding mask back over her face and relit her torch. Bright bits of metal slag flew in all directions as she continued work on the belly of the ship.

The demolition had finally been completed a week ago and the reconstruction phase had started up. She'd gotten together a few like minded, engineering-keen mechanics and as they took the ship apart piece by piece, they painstakingly catalogued just how the ship went together. She had been surprised at how quickly a detailed blueprint of the ship's schematics had been drawn up. She named a mechanic named Henrik the lead engineer and they worked together seamlessly. She'd known him ever since she'd been a little girl in pigtails and he would sneak her bits of hard candies, even though Cid hadn't wanted her to eat between mealtimes. He'd also helped with the reconstruction of New Home, so as soon as Rikku had been aware of him being at Djose, she jumped at the chance to ask him to help. They had a great working relationship; she's ask for something and he would magically conjure it up, or else already have it ready for her before she even had a chance to ask him about it.

He still remembered about the candies he used to give her too; she'd find a piece of peppermint tucked inside her napkin at lunch and a bit of butterscotch at dinner. She would look over where he sat a few tables over and he'd wink at her, his sun-weathered skin crinkling at his eyes, then go back to the conversation he had been having with other technicians or tuck back into his meal.

Something cold touched her shoulder. Turning her torch off, she lifted the mask and turned. "Looked like you needed a break," Gippal said, offering her a frosted over glass of water.

"Boss man's doing a water run?" she quipped, taking it and gratefully gulping the contents. She shivered as the cold stung all the way down, making her back hurt. "Gah, that's cold."

"You're not the only one that can cast a blizzard spell." He leaned forward to check on her progress. "And who said I couldn't be a water boy every now and then?"

"It's getting there," she said, referring to the metal skeleton that was slowly taking shape. She and Henrik had kept the ship's design pretty much the same, but they altered it a bit for better aerodynamics. The finished product was going to be built for speed, yet still be able to carry a decent amount of passengers or cargo. She'd shown the plans to Rayne, who had given them his seal of approval. He hadn't helped out much in the initial construction of his ship all those years ago, but Rikku was finding out that he was a bit of an engineer himself. She had introduced him to Henrik and it was as if the two of them were long lost friends, how well they got along.

She had to hand it to Rayne. He knew his stuff. She found herself working late, just so that she could hang out with him more. While they worked, he told her some back history on how he and Aya had met. Apparently, he had been working as a shipping pilot and had gone into the café she worked at one day after a run. It had been love at first sight.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around to help out much," Gippal said, bringing her attention back to him. There'd been a huge breakdown at the dig sites in Bikanel that had required his full attention, and then as soon as he had gotten back from that, several hovers along the Highroad had needed emergency repairs. He'd either been holed up in his office filling out requisition forms and assigning crews or out in the field working. She'd insisted that he take the mechanics he had designated hers for her project to help out. As a result, she had taken on the majority of the work by herself, relying on only one or two other workers along with Rayne.

"That's okay," she told him. "I'll just twist your arm to do the electrical stuff."

"Yeah, so if something bursts into flames it'll be all my fault."

"Of course."

He gave a melodramatic sigh. "I was _fifteen_. I'll have you know that I've never melted a circuit board since then." He reached out and snatched the cup from her hands, drinking the last bits.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!" She tugged off her heavy leather gloves and proceeded to put her equipment away. Thunder rumbled off in the distance, heralding the storm that had been threatening to fall all afternoon. "You think the tents will hold?" Since taking everything apart, the entrance to the temple had been cluttered with multicolored canvas tents to protect the ship parts. It looked as if a caravan of gypsies had taken up residence at the temple steps.

"They should. They can ride out the roughest desert storms without a grain of sand getting inside, they should hold up to a little rain." He wandered about and gathered a few loose tools that Rikku had left scattered in her wake. Another boom of thunder sounded, and he shook his head when Rikku jumped. "Thought you weren't afraid of thunder any more."

She took the welding mask off with more force than necessary, wincing when a few stray hairs got caught in the hinges. "I'm not _afraid_," she said, tucking the helmet under her arm. "Just slightly _uncomfortable_. There's a difference."

"Didn't you say that you camped out in the Thunder Plains for a while?" Knowing Rikku, she had spent the entire time there in the perfectly safe, practically soundproof rooms of the Travel Agency. The way she squirmed under his questioning glance confirmed it. "Rin have you washing dishes to earn your keep?" When he had been younger, Gippal had spent a summer or two working at the travel agency. Back then, Rin had still been in the process of establishing his chain of inns and the Thunder Plains agency was brand new. The only reason that his mother had allowed him to go out and explore Spira was that she had trusted Rin to keep Gippal out of trouble. They never told her that Gippal had been the one on the roof trying to recalibrate the lightning rod during particularly stormy nights or about the many times they had to fight back fiends from around the perimeter of the building. What Lina hadn't known hadn't hurt her, and even better, it hadn't hurt _Gippal_. If she had known, she would have blistered both his and Rin's ears and forbidden Gippal to step one foot away from Home for the rest of his life.

Rikku looked sheepish. "He tried, but every other dish wound up getting broken. That's when he sent me to my room for the rest of the week." She had gotten somewhat used to the noise by the end of the week, but was relieved to see the _Fahrenheit_ touch down to pick her up all the same. She put up a brave front when Cid questioned her on how her week went, but whenever her father sent her and her brother out to show the rest of Spira how machina worked, she made sure Brother and Buddy were assigned to the Plains.

"He always did have a soft spot for you," Gippal said. "If you hadn't decided to apprentice in metallurgy, I think he would have asked if you wanted to learn the tricks of the trade."

"He did?"

"Yeah. You were around so much when we were kids, I think he kind of adopted you as the daughter he never had." Gippal knew that Rin had been in love with his mother since Rin had been the age Gippal was now. His mother had told him that she had feelings for Rin as well, but since he had never given her any hints that he was interested and Gippal's father _had_, she went with Amal instead.

"_Don't get me wrong,"_ she had told him once. _"I loved your father very much. It was kind of hard not to; he practically swept me off my feet."_ When his father had been killed in one of Sin's attacks, Rin had been there to help pick up the pieces of their world that Gippal's larger than life father had left behind. He hadn't moved in on his mother right away; he had carefully danced around her until she had finally realized his feelings for her. Gippal had always respected Rin for that. He also respected the fact that Rin was willing to take a four-year-old boy under his wing and help raise him. Rin had made certain that Gippal knew he wasn't a substitute for his own father, but someone that would be there for him whenever Gippal needed him. When he had gotten older, Gippal had asked Rin why he hadn't originally married Lina instead. Rin had only shrugged. _"Your father was my best friend,"_ was all he had said. _"I couldn't stand between him and the one person that could make him the happiest."_

"I always wondered," Rikku said, bringing Gippal back to the present. "Why you never went in with the whole commerce thing."

"Who says I didn't?" Gippal asked. "It takes a lot of salesmanship to get people to follow your lead, you know."

She laughed. "No way."

"Rule number one," he held up his index finger and looked at her solemnly. "Promise the consumer something. In my case, I promised people a dependable guy that could capitalize on the sudden lift of the taboo on machina and help them understand machines better. Rule number two," he held up a second finger. "Deliver on what you promised in rule number one. I just happen to be a really dependable guy that knows his way around machines."

They made their way through the tent, securing the entrance flap against the coming rain. "Well, you do a really good job of it," Rikku said, hoisting up the welding kit in her arms as they walked towards the equipment building.

Gippal took the kit from her arms, lifting the cumbersome thing like it was nothing. "I credit my overwhelming charisma, surplus of charm, and handsome good looks." He hid the satisfied rush of pleasure at her compliment behind a customary smirk and glib remark. He knew what he was doing as a leader and he knew he did it well, but it felt good hearing a confirmation from her.

"Oh yes," Rikku teased, nudging him with her elbow. "I'd want to join the Machine Faction only because that Gippal is _so_ _cute_." She pitched her voice up high and fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"Actually," Gippal mused, handing over the welding kit to the attendant. "I get a whole lot of applications for digging with that exact reason written on it." He laughed at the flash of jealousy on her face that she tried to hide unsuccessfully. "They never last more than a week at most, though. They find out pretty quickly that the hot sun and low pay just isn't worth it."

"Bet that just breaks your heart, all those girls dropping like flies." She scuffed the ground with her boot heel. After coming back from Zanarkand, the two of them had pretty much openly said that they were seeing the other. Rikku couldn't help but be amused by the somewhat jealous glares a couple of girls had given her since then.

"It might," he slung an arm around her shoulder. "If I was interested in any of them. They aren't my type. I like my girls cute, blonde and stubborn as hell. It doesn't hurt if their names happen to be Rikku, either."

She rolled her eyes, but wrapped an arm around his waist. "So you must run into a lot of Rikkus then, do you?"

He rested his chin on the top of her head and grinned. "Nope. I think Spira can only handle just the one of you." He had the good grace to pretend the punch she gave his arm actually hurt.

oOoOo

Hours later, a particularly violent sounding peal of thunder woke Rikku up from the nap she had inadvertently taken on top of several very old textbooks in the library. Still groggy and half asleep, she shrieked and bolted upright, ending up under the table. She gave a shaky laugh as she finally woke up all the way, glad that no one had been present to see her. Crawling out from under the table, she closed the books she had been poring over, double checking for drool marks. Thankfully finding none, she put everything back where she had found it, setting one book aside to peruse later on in her bedroom. After her crew finished rebuilding the metal structure of the ship, the next big project was going to be rebuilding the engine room. The schedule she and Henrik had drawn up didn't call for that happening for another week or two, depending on weather conditions. Still, she had scoured through countless pages trying to find something that resembled the strange power supply. Unlike the _Celsius_, which ran on some sort of odd crystal-based fuel she _still_ wasn't quite sure of, she had found some plans for solar cells. The technology was pretty simple and slightly old – now that she had seen the explanation for it on paper, she had remembered working on something similar for the previous Home's backup generator. It was one of those things that could stump people until it was taken out of its original context and looked at closer.

Back aching, she made her way to the kitchens to brew a mug of tea. Someone who lived in the temple before had created a fantastic garden just outside the kitchen door and someone in the Faction had taken the time to keep it maintained. A generous selection of dried herbs hung in a pantry, and Rikku picked a few she knew were good for muscle aches and pains. Steaming mug in hand and book tucked securely under her arm, she made her way back towards her bedroom.

The light under Gippal's door stopped her. She could hear him moving around in there, and she had half a mind to just keep on walking. Curiosity got the better of her though, making her knock on the heavy wooden door.

"What are you still doing up?" she asked, poking her head in. "It's really late." She hadn't seen the inside of his private office in years. It hadn't changed much; there were still the stacks of paperwork piled to the sides of his desk and the floor to ceiling bookcases crammed to the bursting point with blueprints and rolled up plans. She understood his need for a secondary office: there was just so much _stuff_ that couldn't fit into his larger one. The difference with this office and the one up front was that where the one everyone and their mother went into felt businesslike and formal, this one off his bedroom reflected more of Gippal's personality. It was functional, but it was also laid back. There were a set of chairs in the corner that practically begged to be sat in. Rikku knew from personal experience that they were the best things to curl up and take naps on. The big area rug his desk sat on broke up the hard tile, the vibrant colors warming up the cold slate floor.

She jumped as the crackling lightning fixture in the middle of the room sizzled and gave an ominous flash. "What's up with that?" she asked, backing away before it would up zapping her.

"Lightning rods are replenishing energy," Gippal answered nonchalantly. "Happens every time there's a storm, you get used to it."

"I'm just glad my room doesn't have one," she admitted. "It would keep me up all night."

"So what are you doing up so late anyway?" he asked, looking up from a stack of planning books. His hair looked more rumpled than usual, signaling that he'd been running his fingers through it.

"I was heading to bed," Rikku countered, taking a sip from her mug. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

She sighed. "Rub your eye. You're going to get it irritated if you keep that up." He'd taken off his eye patch for the evening. From far away, no one could tell that anything was wrong with his eye. Even from a closer range, you really had to look hard at his face before finally pinpointing just what was slightly off about it. The sandragora that had blasted poison into his face years ago had only partially blinded him, leaving him with only about ten percent vision in his right eye. He claimed that if he closed his good eye and only used the injured one, he could see blurry black shadows at best. Sometimes he'd get a flash or two of color, but they were gone almost before he registered seeing them in the first place. Gippal claimed he wore the patch because trying to focus between barely there shadows and clear vision often gave him a headache.

Anticipating a late night of work ahead of him alone, he had also taken off his shirt and boots. "I already have a mother," he groused, rubbing his eye intentionally with the back of his knuckle to get a reaction out of her. He grinned at her exasperated sigh and head shake.

"And she'd tell you the same thing. Let me have a look at it." Setting her mug on a clean space and her book on top of a stack of files, she leaned in closer. The white of his eye was nearly opaque, the cloudy gray color muting the vibrant green of his swirled iris to a dull, mossy hue. He had been fortunate enough to retain muscle control over his eyelid, his dark gold eyelashes nearly touching his cheekbones as he blinked. _I'd kill for lashes like that,_ Rikku sighed wistfully. Her own were decent enough, but tended to go spiky on her and only looked exceptionally good with the aid of cosmetics. "You've been straining your eye," she said accusingly.

He couldn't help it; she was too close. Leaning over, he pressed his lips softly against hers, enjoying the way that she swayed towards him, her body pliant under his hands. "Guilty." His secretary had gotten over the bug she had suffered, but now her family was stricken with it. He'd given her as much time off as she needed to take care of them, telling her she was on paid leave until everyone in the house was back on their feet. As a result, he'd been doing double duty, even with Lina's help. This meant twice as many things to look over in the paperwork department. He closed his eyes as Rikku's fingers absently ran lazy circles over his temples, her thumbs smoothing over his eyebrows. "I really am sorry that I haven't been around more often," he said, his hands settling over her hips, his thumbs playing with the belt loops of her pants.

She kissed his forehead. "That's okay. I'll just have to make you take me out to some expensive place to make up for it." She slid her fingers in his hair, her nails lightly running over his scalp. "Here, drink this. You need it more than I do." She stepped back and pushed her mug towards him. She rounded the desk and picked up her book. Pressing a palm against a knot in her lower back, she turned to leave. "Good night."

"Wait." Gippal reached out and put his hand on her elbow. "Your back hurts, doesn't it?"

She turned her head. "Guilty."

He frowned. "You've been working way too hard." He stood up from his chair and came up behind her.

"I already have a father," she said, echoing his earlier words. She hissed when his hands found a sore spot at the base of her neck.

"Yeah, and Cid would have told you the same thing, just with a lot more complaining thrown in."

She sighed. "I _have _to get this done. You saw how miserable Aya and Rayne looked." She turned and tucked her head under his chin. "It's not fair to them."

He stroked her arms and hugged her. "I know, but at the same time, it's not fair to you to go at the pace you've been keeping up. You work long hours each day, longer than all the other workers do. One of these days you're going to start work still tired and make a mistake that's going to cost you." He rested his cheek against her hair. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I just want to help them," she said stubbornly.

"You are. We'll get this ship up and running, but I'm not going to let you kill yourself over it. They've waited for a thousand years to see the other; they can wait a few more weeks." He tried for his best placating tone and resumed rubbing her back.

"This isn't working," he said, stepping away. He took her hand and led her to his adjoining bedroom.

"What?" She took a curious once-over of the place. Pieces of dirty laundry were kicked in a corner. His set of armor was hanging on a stand at the far wall, flanked by his oversized multi-weapon and a collection of knives Rikku knew weren't just mounted to the wall for decoration's sake. Little bits and pieces of his everyday life littered a side table to the right of the main bedroom door: discarded gil pieces, a comb with several bent teeth, and a few loose gearwheels were among the mess thrown around haphazardly on the scarred surface. Yet another brightly colored area rug broke up the expanse of hard stone floor and brought a burst of indigo, olive, and scarlet to the room. A low chest of drawers housed all his clothing and his bed was sandwiched between two sturdy looking end tables. There was a large framed painting over the bed depicting a panoramic view of the desert, the orange colored sand sliding sideways in the wind offset by brilliant blue skies above.

"You're about to fall on your feet," he noted. "Slide over." He guided her towards the side of his bed.

"I can sleep in my own room," she protested.

"You're not sleeping here. You're going to lie down while I finish getting all those knots out of your back. I can't work with you wobbling all over the place."

"How generous of you," she told him, toeing off her boots so she wouldn't get his sheets dirty. She rubbed her fingers against the material, the neutral colored linen cool to the touch. That's when it clicked. The rugs in each room were pieces that she was used to seeing in Bikanel; the thick material trapped sand and barred it from entering the rest of the house. The linen sheets were cool enough for the daytime hours, but the heavy red blanket draped at the foot of the bed provided warmth through the evenings when the temperature dropped dramatically. If he couldn't be there himself, Gippal had brought the desert to Djose.

"I'm a generous kind of guy," he replied, sitting on the edge of the mattress. He kneaded the spot between her shoulder blades. "Better?"

"A little." They lapsed into a companionable silence. It was only until Gippal felt her muscles go completely slack and hear her even breathing did he realize that Rikku had fallen asleep. Not even pulling the sheet out from under her body and covering her with it woke her up. He glanced at the bare spot next to her, then at the door leading to his study, then back again.

Sometimes he hated being the boss. At least the tea on his desk was still warm.

oOoOo

Rikku woke up, wondering why she had decided to go to bed almost fully clothed. Her back was warm, as if there was a heating pad running the entire length of her body. An unfamiliar weight at her waist had her picking up the sheet covering her and looking down. Huh, there was an arm there. She looked at both of her hands. Drawing the conclusion that she hadn't grown a third arm in the middle of the night, she turned her head and came face to face with a sleeping Gippal. Events replayed in her head and she flushed, hoping that she hadn't fallen asleep on him while he had been talking to her. She gingerly turned in his arms and took the opportunity to watch him.

He looked a lot younger in his sleep. Unguarded, he didn't have the _it's me against the world, baby_ expression he sometimes wore while awake. His dark eyelashes fanned out over his cheekbones and his mouth was slack, his lips partially open in sleep. Dark blond stubble covered the bottom half of his face, defining the sharp angle of his jaw line. He sighed a bit in his sleep and his arm tightened around her waist, his hand tightening on her hip as he settled closer to her. Then he tilted his head so that his forehead rested on hers. His hair tickled her nose and his legs tangled with hers.

As comfortable as it was lying in bed, Rikku's internal clock was telling her that it was time to start the day. It took a while, but her highly honed thievery skills allowed her to wiggle out of his embrace without waking him up. She watched as he frowned in his sleep, his hand reaching out to the space she just left. Gathering up her boots in one hand, she gave him one last glance. _This is probably a stupid idea,_ she thought, putting her boots back down. She leaned over and gently brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"I could really fall for you if I'm not careful," she whispered, softly brushing her lips over his. She ran a hand over his cheek, her fingers catching on his stubble. "And I don't think I'd mind all that much if I did." Picking her boots back up, she tiptoed out of his room, closing the door with a soft click.

It wasn't until Gippal heard her footsteps fade outside his door that he opened his eyes. Little did she know, he had woken up earlier and had watched her as she slept; only pretending to be asleep when he felt her stir.

"Then I'm gonna have to work on that," he murmured. Stretching, he debated getting up and starting the day. Inhaling the bright fragrance that had clung to his pillow, he decided to give himself the luxury of another hour's worth of sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships 10/12

Rating: PG

Words: 4,106

Challenge: first date; rain, break, saved

Summary: "You know what? This is technically our fist date."

* * *

The small microburst of rain that was supposed to be over within minutes turned into a torrential downpour that lasted an entire week. Workers had resorted to digging shallow drainage ditches in the ground around the temple to help stave off flooding. Since working in the tents had proven to be claustrophobic after a while, not to mention stifling with the lack of proper ventilation, Rikku had taken over a small corner of the temple's large and airy workshop to rebuild portions of the airship's engine. Her plan early on in the week had been to build small and then hook all the pieces together on site later on. The rain had eventually slowed to a stop by Friday, but she was too far into her project to stop until it was ready to be moved.

The place Gippal had converted into a workshop looked as if it had once served as a main area of worship for the priests and others that had lived there. It wasn't on the main trail; one had to walk along a neatly groomed footpath before reaching it. Like the temple, it seemed as if it was carved out the side of the rock face. The shoreline sat far below, the distant roar of the surf soothing to the senses as it filtered through the everyday din of clanging metal and the whirring pneumatic sound of tools. There were scars on the floor where pews had once been bolted down and the ornate stained glass windows depicting the teachings of Yevon had long since been taken out and replaced with simple panes of wavy glass that let in a lot of natural light and air.

In short, Rikku felt at home. She was much more at ease and in her own element here, with grease sliding through her fingers and the sounds of tools and the laughter of fellow mechanics in the background. It was when it was time to call it a day and she went back inside the temple did she feel odd. The end of the day meant a blessedly long, hot shower, but it also meant Gippal.

She blushed. Normally, she wouldn't have minded him much. Before, she would have sat with him and talked about how their days had gone and decompressed, but now that she knew he was interested in more than just friendship with her, she didn't really know _how_ to act around him. One minute they were fine and things were like they'd always been. The next, he'd give her a look she'd seen him give other girls but had never been on the receiving end of and she'd get a fluttery sensation in the pit of her stomach and it felt as if her skin was on too tight. He'd always been a touchy-feely person, and as someone that liked tactile contact, she never minded. Now it seemed that she was tuned into him much more than she'd ever been in her life, her senses going on hyper alert whenever he was near.

He also seemed to be aware of that fact, if his smirk was anything to go by. There were times when she wanted to really do something to shock the look off his face, like kiss him senseless the way that she had in his office before her dad had barged in on them, and she honestly didn't know what stopped her. She usually wasn't this wishy-washy when it came to men. For the most part, she had been the one to approach her former boyfriends, but her bravado failed her when it came to Gippal.

"It's because you like him much more than everyone else," Henrik said by her elbow. Rikku's hands tightened on the socket wrench she held and she muffled a startled scream behind tightly pressed lips.

"I didn't say that out loud."

Eyes flashing with amusement behind his protective goggles, Henrik nodded. "Yes you did." Pushing graying hair out of his eyes, the older mechanic finished attaching his portion of the engine. "I don't know why the two of you have been dancing around the other for years either."

"_What_?" She'd never danced around Gippal in her life. She might have looked longingly in his direction ever since she could remember, but she'd never acted on it.

Henrik seemed to read her expression and he chuckled. "I've known you ever since you were old enough to run behind your father like a little shadow. I've known Gippal even longer. The boy's held a torch for you for most of his life."

Rikku frowned and rubbed her dirty hands on the thighs of her pants. "Are we that obvious?"

"Only to those of us that have known you the longest. You're good for the other; I'm glad that things are working out." He moved around the workbench, picking up a piece of metal and turning it in his hands. "Things _are_ working out, aren't they?"

Rikku blushed. "I guess. I mean, we've all been so busy lately. Gippal's had a lot of deadlines and I really want to get this ship off the ground soon."

He shook his head. "You young people worry too damn much about profits and business. Leave that sort of thing to us older folks; go out and enjoy life while you still can. Weather finally cleared up, would be a _shame_ if someone didn't take advantage of the clear skies and go out for a nice walk once and a while."

She shrugged, looking a few tables to her right. Rayne was there, his shirt sleeves rolled up over his forearms and the edges of the bandana he wore over his head damp with sweat. Of course, no one besides she and Gippal knew about Rayne's situation, everyone just thought that he was a friend of Rikku's that was just hanging around to give her a hand on her project. "Maybe," was all she said before losing herself in her work for another couple of hours.

oOoOo

"You free tonight?" Rikku let out a startled gasp, turning around towards the door to find Gippal standing in the entranceway.

"I don't know," she told him with a smile, setting her tools aside. She'd made good progress with one of the main boosters; now all she had to do was figure out exactly how they were going to attach them to the power supply. "I'd have to check my calendar."

"Well, if you don't have anything planned for later, how about you and I get away from here for a while?"

"Get away? You have any place in particular in mind?" She frowned; the sun had gone down without her noticing. Her stomach gurgled, telling her that she hadn't noticed the dinner gong either. "And does this place have food?"

Gippal laughed, coming closer to her table. "I think that can be arranged." He wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. "So what do you say? Wanna take a break and have dinner with me?"

She leaned against him, his chest warm against her back. "Give me a little while to clean up. I'm a mess."

"A cute one though," he agreed, tugging at a stand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. "How does half an hour sound?"

"Sounds good." She put the last of her tools up for the evening.

Thirty minutes and a quick hover ride later saw them sitting on the couch at the front portion of Gippal's private workshop. She was curled up against him, her legs folded under her. His feet rested on the small coffee table in front of them, and one of his hands was absently playing with Rikku's hair.

"My mother is driving me crazy," he admitted after they finished eating the leftovers that Gippal had thrown together into a basket while Rikku went to her room to clean up. They weren't much, but Rikku knew that it had been the thought behind the meal that counted the most.

"She's only been here two weeks. It usually takes her much longer to drive you up the walls."

He rolled his eye. "I mean, I'm glad she's here and everything; my records haven't been this organized _ever_. It's just that something is bothering her and all the nervous energy she's giving off is starting to get to me."

"Do you know what's wrong?"

He shook his head. "No. Though I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with Rin." He took a sip from the wineglass he held loosely in his free hand. "He's been calling my office commsphere almost twice every day, but she won't pick up."

Rikku frowned. "That's weird. I thought those two were head over heels for the other."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too." He took another sip from his glass. The sky outside was clear for once, the large bank of windows in the drafting area letting in the silvery moonlight. The stars overhead looked like millions of tiny, twinkling pinpoints of light. "They must have had some sort of fight."

"If you want, I can talk to her."

Gippal ran his fingers through her hair again. "Thanks, I appreciate that."

The oil lamps he had lit earlier flickered. Rikku snuggled closer before looking up at him, her chin on his chest. "Do you know what?"

"Hm?"

"This is technically our first date."

He sat up just long enough to put his glass on the coffee table. "You're right." Settling back down on the couch, he looked down at her. "How did I do?"

"You brought dinner, which earns you a lot of points. Then there's the spot that has a great view, you made a point to create a cozy atmosphere…I'd say you did pretty well. As of now, you're at an eight and a half on my dating scale."

He raised an eyebrow. "That's _it_?"

She played with the buttons on his shirt. "Well, for right now. Date's not over yet and I haven't figured in your good night kiss score." She kissed his jaw. "If it makes you feel any better, the average date I've been on is usually in the five or six range."

He smirked. "That's because I'm better than the average boyfriend."

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "At least no one can say you have a modest streak." She yawned then, the day's events finally catching up to her.

"I'd offer to take you dancing, but it looks like you're ready to call it a night."

"I'm sorry."

His fingers slid over the curve of her cheek. "Don't be. You've been working really hard."

"It should start coming together soon; if the weather holds up, I'm going to start hauling what we have in the workshop back down to the ship in another day or two, depending on how well progress goes."

"I know I've said it before, but you're doing a damn good job." His arms tightened around her and he put his cheek on the crown of her head.

She blushed. "It means a lot to me to hear you say that, Gippal. It really does." She yawned again, her fingers splayed over his chest.

He kissed her forehead. "Come on, let's head on back. We stay here any longer and my date points are going to plummet when you fall asleep on me."

"Ah. And there goes your reputation for being such a charming guy."

"Exactly." He rose and extinguished the lamps.

Rikku laughed, picking up the now empty picnic basket. "Somehow I don't see you having anything to worry about that."

oOoOo

"Well, this is my stop," Rikku said when Gippal walked her back to her room. She covered another yawn with her hand. "I had a good time."

"I'm glad. I'm going to have to haul you out of your work more often then."

She grinned. "Is this payback for all the times I saved you from those mountains of paperwork in your office?"

"Something like that." He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. Rikku's hands ran over his shoulders to cup the back of his neck. His hair slid between her fingers, soft to the touch. She stood on tiptoe to better align her body with his, Gippal's hands warm at her waist. He gently nipped at her bottom lip with his teeth before leaning back.

"Good night," he whispered, stepping back so there was a little more room between them. Rikku found herself leaning forward to try and make up the distance.

"Good night." She opened her door and stepped inside. "Hey Gippal?"

"Yeah?"

"You got a ten."

Gippal grinned to himself as he walked down the hallway, a spring evident in his step.

oOoOo

The workshop behind the temple was still open, if the lights blazing inside were any indication. At least he'd have some company. "Hey," he said, opening up Rikku's tool case she'd left at her station.

Rayne looked up from the part he had been working on. "Hey." He was the only person in the building, still going strong after pulling a long day of construction work.

"Thought I'd put in some extra hours tonight," Gippal told him, already tying a bandana over his hair. He was planning on welding together whatever Rikku and her crew had finished during the day and he knew from past experience that it was going to get hot in the workshop pretty quickly.

"Is Rikku asleep?"

"Yeah."

Rayne nodded, putting the part down and wiping his greasy hands on a rag he had stuffed in his pockets. "That's good. I keep on telling her she's pushing herself too hard."

"That's the thing with Cid's Girl; she's as stubborn as they come. Getting her to do something when her mind is already made up is like hitting your head against a brick wall." He said it kindly, his lips turning upwards in a smile as he inspected her work to see where exactly Rikku had left off. He picked up a screwdriver and went to work.

Rayne moved over to another station, a wrench in hand. "At first, I really did think she was my Aya," he started. "But now I can see that they're definitely two different women."

"What was she like?"

Rayne paused, leaning his hip against the workstation. "She's…" he searched for a word. "Kind. She works in this café and has to put up with some of the crappiest people I know and somehow she still manages to do it with a smile on her face." Gippal didn't correct Rayne's present tense, not thinking it made any sense to remind the man that both Zanarkand and the grumpy people that frequented his girlfriend's café no longer existed.

"Rikku is like that too, but I can see her getting fed up with things after a while and dumping somebody's coffee into their lap if they gave her any grief."

Rayne laughed. "Yeah, I could see her doing that too." They worked in a companionable silence, both of them at different workstations. They came together every once and a while to put whatever portion they had been fixing together to form an even bigger component. Rayne would bite out a curse when his hand slipped or a knuckle got scraped, and Gippal would follow suit, save that his declarations were in Al Bhed and sounded a lot more vehement.

They called it a night around three in the morning, both of them satisfied with their progress. It wasn't done by a long shot, but they had put a sizeable dent in the work. "You're a pretty decent mechanic," Gippal said, wiping sweat off his forehead. "If things were different, I'd offer you a job here."

Rayne grinned, his teeth white against grease-streaked tan skin. "Well, if things were different, I just might accept." He looked around at the things that still needed to get done. "It's getting there."

Gippal couldn't help but notice the wistful way that Rayne stared at the still disassembled parts. "You miss her, don't you?"

"Yeah. I really do." He looked up, catching Gippal's eye. "But considering how long I've been away from her, I think I can wait a little while longer. I've been telling Rikku that, but…"

"But she never listens. I know." Gippal methodically put his tools away and cleared his workstation. "She's got a romantic streak a mile wide."

"You love her, don't you?"

Gippal paused. He slowly closed the lid to the welding kit. "Yeah, I do." He put the kit back in its place along the wall. "The trick is to get her to love me back."

"She talks a lot about you."

"Nothing too incriminating, I hope?"

Rayne shook his head. "No, but the way she looks at you makes me think that you don't have to work hard at getting her to return your feelings." Rayne sat back on one of the stools. "Though by the way she talks, it sounds like the two of you hadn't seen the other for a while."

"Four years."

"If you don't mind me prying, was there a reason?"

Gippal frowned. He'd been thinking a lot about that, especially how Rikku always evaded the topic whenever he brought it up. _You were always dating some girl,_ she had said. _I've felt this way about you even longer than you've felt about me._ He opened his mouth. _Why didn't you say anything? I didn't know how._ "Because I was a clueless kid, that's why." He stood up. "But I'm going to make up for lost time now."

Rayne smiled. "Good for you." He stretched before absently rubbing a hand over his chin. "Girls like your Rikku and my Aya don't come along but once in a lifetime. Don't let her go."

There was something tugging at Gippal's curiosity. "What does it feel like to die?" he asked, his face serious.

Rayne looked at him. "I didn't remember anything at first, but now that I've been thinking about it, it comes back to me in bits and pieces." He rubbed at his chest, as if soothing a phantom ache. "It hurt. I'd like to be all macho and say that I wasn't afraid, but I'd be lying. As soon as the ship was starting to fall, I knew that I wasn't going to make it out of there." He looked down at his feet. "I'd never been so scared before."

Gippal thought back to the Den of Woe and the nightmares that sometimes plagued him, years after the fact. "I think I understand what you mean."

He left the workshop, feeling a tiredness that went beyond physical exhaustion.

oOoOo

He tossed in his bed, the usually comfortable mattress and cool sheets not doing a thing to help him sleep. He'd almost fallen asleep in his shower, the water turning from warm to cold before he got out, but now he was wide awake. Swinging his bare feet over the bed, he got up and went to his door. It was nearly five; the morning shift people would be waking up soon and he knew that the ones on kitchen duty were already up and bustling about, the smell of freshly baked bread winding down the hallways even this far from the kitchens. Even so, he barely bothered with a robe as he left his room, thinking to spend a little while in his office before going back to his rooms to try and get some sleep.

His feet had other ideas though. Before he knew it, he found himself standing in front of Rikku's door. He raised his hand to knock, but paused. She'd been sleeping for a little under six hours and by the dark circles that were starting to show under her eyes, he knew that she needed a lot more. _I don't even know why I'm here,_ he thought, turning away. It was then that her door creaked open.

Green eyes stared up at him. "What are you doing up so early?" Rikku asked, opening the door wider. She looked him over from the top of his mussed hair and missing eye patch all the way down to his bare feet. "You look like you haven't slept much."

He sighed. She was wearing an oversized shirt that went down almost to her knees. Beyond that, he couldn't tell what else she was wearing. The tips of her toenails – an electric blue now – caught the light from the hallway. "Couldn't sleep."

She put her hand on his wrist and led him inside her room. "Want to talk about it?"

"Nothing much to talk about, I just can't get comfortable." He glanced at her. "Could I sleep here?"

She smiled up at him softly. "What a role reversal. If I remember it correctly, I was always the one to sneak into your room when we were kids."

"Yeah, but that was only when there were thunderstorms and you didn't want to wake up anybody at your house." He took her statement as permission and slid his robe off, draping it over the bench at the foot of her bed. He couldn't help but notice how her cheeks turned a slight pink when she realized that the only thing he was wearing was a pair of loosely fitting pajama bottoms that slung low over his hips.

She recovered quickly, pushing her hair out of her face. She'd taken the tiny braids that were always present out, causing some sections of her hair to be wavy while the rest were straight. "That's because Brother always made fun of me. You never did." She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, fully aware that she had bed head and stale breath. A part of her brain that logically stated that she had known Gippal since they had been little kids didn't think it was that much of a big deal, but the girly, 'my boyfriend is in my room' section of her mind was horrified.

Gippal pulled her sheets down and sat on the mattress. "You're not getting up, are you? It's still really early."

She shook her head. "No. I usually get up a few hours from now, but I heard someone at the door."

He tilted his chin. "Huh, and here I was trying to be quiet."

She giggled. "And that's why I'm the thief and you're the engineer. I'm stealthier than you are." She sat down on the opposite side of the bed. "You aren't still a bed hog, are you?"

He looked affronted. "Rikku, I've never hogged a bed in my entire life."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, right. That's why I always found myself _this close_ to falling off your bed whenever I stayed the night."

"Do you still snore?"

Her eyes widened. "I don't snore!" He grinned and she hit him with her pillow. "Meanie," she muttered, pulling the sheets over her legs and settling down with a yawn. She turned to her side and smiled when Gippal's arm went around her, his hand a comforting weight at her hip.

"Brat," he countered, his breath warm against her ear. Her hair tickled his nose, but he didn't care.

"You're hogging the bed again." She didn't sound as upset about it as she had made herself sound earlier.

"No I'm not. I usually sleep on this side." His knees curved under hers as he spooned behind her. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Get some sleep."

She moved her hand so that she could link her fingers with his. "You too."

Gippal listened to the soft sounds of her breathing for a long while. Even there with her, sleep was proving to be elusive. Outside her door, he could hear workers start to shuffle around, getting ready to start their day. Rikku sighed, mumbling something under her breath in her dreams that he couldn't catch. He buried his face against her hair, inhaling the bright citrus scent of her shampoo. It seemed like forever, but he finally felt his eyelids grow heavy. Rikku's fingers went slack and she let go of his hand as she fell into a deeper sleep, but she made up for it by turning to face him, her hand on his bicep. One of her legs tangled with his and she moved so her head was resting on his shoulder. He moved his hand so it rested at the small of her back, bringing her even closer to him. He drifted off to sleep then, a contented smile on his lips.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships (11/12)

Rating: PG

Words: 3,667

Summary: And the truth will set you free.

* * *

The high pitched yelp and string of curses coming form the overhead electrical duct made Gippal look up from his project.

"You okay?" he asked, putting the screwdriver down on the metal floor.

"Just peachy," Rikku groaned, her voice echoing in the narrow compartment. "Remind me again why I got stuck doing all the dirty work," she grunted as she shimmied closer to the entrance, "when _you_ were the one that was supposed to wire everything together?"

"Because," Gippal said, grabbing her ankles as she came out of the duct. "You're smaller than I am. My shoulders wouldn't fit in there."

She slid out, her knuckle in her mouth. "I still say that we could have put everything below deck instead."

"Then it would have taken up too much room and we wouldn't have any to spare for all the components to the commsphere network." He took a handkerchief from his back pocket and dabbed at the small cut on her knuckle. "Which I just finished wiring, by the way, so technically I'm still doing most of the electrical work."

She arched her eyebrow. "And it _works_?" she asked playfully.

He shook his head and grinned at her. "Yes, it does." He typed out a few coordinates and the screen at the right of the bridge flared to life. The picture was grainy at first, but then slowly came into focus enough for Rikku to recognize it as the conference room for the Youth League. "Huh. Guess the Noojmeister isn't home."

"Nice job," Rikku reached out and swiveled the camera's limited angles. "And it hasn't made any scary crackling noises or anything. I'm impressed."

Gippal wrapped his arm around her waist and propped his chin on her shoulder. "About time you started recognizing my genius, woman."

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you, oh fearless leader." It would have sounded more convincing if she hadn't laughed. "But I do want to see if the speaker system works. Can you find us a link where there's guaranteed to have someone to talk to around?"

He didn't think; his fingers automatically typed up the Mi'ihen branch's number. The picture sharpened and Gippal frowned. "That's weird. I didn't know Rin had moved this sphere into his office."

"Gippal?" Rin's voice could be heard in the background. "Is that you?" The two of them could hear heavy footsteps as Rin came closer. The camera angle swung about as the sphere in Rin's office was picked up and put back down on top of what looked to be a desk full of neatly organized ledgers and statements. A few of the books were open and Gippal noticed that where Rin's neat script usually filled up every nook and cranny of the page, there was a lot left blank.

"Yeah, it's me. Did we catch you at a bad time?" Another look made Gippal wonder just how often Rin had actually been using the office as a place to conduct business; everything was neat, almost _too_ neat to actually be in working order.

Rin sat down at his desk chair and the two of them finally got a good look at the older man. Gippal had just talked to him at the beginning of the week, but since then, Rin had a growth of stubble around his normally clean-cut jaw and his hair looked as if he had run his fingers through it repeatedly. He looked tired – there were dark smudges under both of his eyes and the faint laugh lines and crinkles that had started to appear around his mouth were more prominent than either Rikku or Gippal could ever remember then being. "No," he said. "It's never a bad time to hear from you. How's your mother?"

"She's doing okay," Gippal replied. "Driving me crazy like usual."

Rin laughed. "It seems to be a talent she has, doesn't it?" He sighed and absently smoothed a wrinkle in his coat. "She hasn't said anything about when she might come back –" he stopped himself, as if unsure about his words, "home, has she?"

Gippal shook his head. "No. Every time I try to talk to her about what's going on, she changes the subject."

Rin looked down. "I thought that she would."

Rikku piped up. "What _is_ going on between the two of you anyway? All that Lina told me was that the two of you were having difficulty seeing eye to eye with something."

The laugh Rin gave didn't sound happy. "I have to hand it to her; Lina is the queen of understatements. I asked her to marry me."

Gippal winced. "Ouch. Did she tell you no before or after she ran off?"

"Truthfully, she didn't give me an answer one way or the other. She was just gone the next morning." Rin slumped in his chair. "You know how often I've tried to get a hold of her; has she truthfully said nothing to you?"

"Sorry, but she's been pretty quiet about it. She _has_ been acting weird, like there was something on her mind that she was struggling with. You know her drill when she gets that way: my office hasn't been this clean since before I moved into the temple."

"I just wish she would _talk_ to me. It doesn't matter if she says yes or no, I _miss_ her."

Gippal nodded. "I'll see what we can do to get her to open up."

Rin sighed. "Thank you."

"Anything else that you want us to tell her?"

Rin shook his head. "No. Just tell her that I love her and…" he ran a hand through his hair. "Just that I love her." Then he reached out and the vidscreen faded to black.

"Wow," Gippal whistled, rocking back on his heels. "I knew that something big was happening between those two, but I didn't think that it was _this_ big."

Rikku nodded. "No wonder she's been looking like she was guilty about something. I bet she's felt awful about leaving Rin without any explanation. I know that…" she stopped, thinking back on just how _she_ had left Gippal four years ago without any explanation of any kind. "It must be hard for her to deal with," she finished lamely.

"Yeah, it must be."

Rayne came up to them then and propped his hip against the console. "Is there any reason that she would do something like that?" he asked. He had seen Lina walking around the temple grounds by herself many a night well after everyone had gone to bed, looking as if she was struggling with something. He didn't have much experience when it came to women, but he had occasionally walked with her. At first, he had claimed insomnia as his reason to be up so late, but she had told him early on that Gippal and Rikku had explained everything to her. He had been grateful, because he really hadn't wanted to lie to her about his existence like he had been to everyone else. Several times, the topic of their nightly discussions had been their respective lovers and he strongly felt that Lina loved Rin very much. Why she would turn his proposal down was beyond him.

"I don't know. Rikku, you got anything?"

"Nope." She looked around. "You two want to call it a night? I'm beat." That and it would give her enough time to talk to Lina girl-to-girl after she grabbed a shower and something to eat.

Gippal nodded. "I guess. I mean, there's not much left to do now and…"

Rayne cut him off. "Call it a night. We really did a lot today."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Go grab a beer or something, you deserved it." He gave a crooked grin and made shooing motions with his hands. Leaning back against a wall, he crossed his arms and watched as Rikku and Gippal walked out of the ship. As they walked towards the temple, Rayne noticed that Rikku took Gippal's arm as she laughed at something he said. He smiled softly, remembering how he and Aya used to walk the streets of Zanarkand hand in hand just like that. He could see daily that time had moved on and that the world was different since he had died, but it still felt weird to him. All that time underwater without any memory or consciousness made it feel as if he had been away from Aya for mere weeks instead of centuries. He looked around. The work on the exterior of the ship had been completed as well as work in the engine room. There had been several tests and everything was in working order as far as flight went. After a few circuits around the area, both Rikku and Gippal had wanted to fly off to Zanarkand when it was certain that the ship wouldn't crash to the ground. Rayne had told them no. He wanted to be with his girl again so much that it hurt, but he also wanted to see the ship he used to own be restored to her former glory. Aya would understand, he knew it.

As it was, there wasn't much left to do any more. The bridge was almost complete and the galley kitchen had been fitted with everything that it needed to operate. The sleeping quarters had been transformed into a mobile office for Gippal, with a bed in the corner almost as an afterthought. He shook his head. Really, the man was a workaholic. No wonder Rikku had to go drag him out of his office every once and a while. Not that she was any different. There were nights that workers had to coax her out of her work with the lure of food, seeing that more often than not, she skipped lunch.

"Just a while longer," he whispered, going to sit in the pilot's seat. Running his hands over the new leather armrests, he stared out of the windshield. "Just a while longer."

* * *

Rikku found Lina sitting outside tossing little pieces of bread to the monkeys that occupied much of the temple grounds. They hadn't gone inside since she'd been there, so she guessed that Gippal had set something up to keep them out and away from the machines. She could only imagine what sort of mischief they could get into otherwise.

"Hey," she said, sitting down on the bench next to Lina.

"Evening. Did you finish working for the day?"

"Yep. We don't have a lot left to do; if we keep to this schedule, we could get finished this week, if not sooner."

Lina smiled. "That's great news. I'm sure you're happy with how progress has gone. I know that my son is."

Rikku fidgeted. All through her shower, she had wondered how she was going to broach the topic of Rin. "Yeah, he really is. We got the commsphere network up and running today. Gippal did most of the wiring, so I was kind of worried."

Lina laughed. "Do you still tease him about the time he melted that circuit board?"

"Well, you have to admit, his goof up cost Home to not have electricity for three straight days.

"And how did his work today go?"

"Really well. We managed to find somebody to talk to." She looked at Lina from the corner of her eye. "Rin says hello, by the way."

Lina stiffened. "He did?"

"He did."

She put the bread aside, which a monkey instantly grabbed and ran away with. "How did he look?"

Rikku pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Not good. He looked like he hasn't slept well in a while, if not weeks." She silently added _not since you've left._

Lina bit her lip. "I think that I might be the reason for that." She sounded miserable. "You know how long Rin and I have been seeing the other."

"Since as long as I can remember. The two of you are great for the other."

"In all that time, he never asked me to marry him. Until recently." Rikku swore that Lina's lips started to finely tremble.

"What did you tell him?" Thinking it was best to play ignorant, she waited patiently for Lina to answer.

"What does it look like?" The laugh she gave was hollow sounding and bitter. "I ran."

"But why? Don't you love him?"

Her answer came instantly. "Of course I love him! I've always loved him, even before I married Gippal's father."

"Then what's the matter? Why not say yes? It's not like the two of you haven't been living together for years anyway."

Lina wrung her hands. "It's difficult to explain. I guess it started a long time ago." She stared off in the distance for a while before continuing. "Before Rin, even before Amal, I fell in love with someone else. We were both just kids then, probably no older than twelve, when he was killed in a fiend attack. I was devastated, but as the years went by, I was able to accept his death and move on. That's when Amal started courting me. And I loved Amal very much, even more than I had loved that boy. When I heard the news that Sin had gotten to the ship he was on, it very nearly did me in."

"And that's when Rin came around to help out."

Lina nodded. "Rin was always in the background, and I had a feeling that he felt something for me, but I was never certain. Growing up, I had started to care for him but never knew how to tell him, especially since we were friends. I worried that if he hadn't felt the same that I would have lost his friendship, which was something that I didn't want to do. If he would have told me that he had loved me before I had married Amal, I most certainly would have ended things. But then I wouldn't have had Gippal, so I guess things work out in their own ways."

Rin sat back. Hearing Lina talk, it was as if history was repeating itself. Before, Rikku thought that Gippal _might_ have had feelings for her that went beyond friendship, but she could never tell if he was playing around or was serious about things, especially the way that he teased her about everything. And she had valued his friendship too much to risk losing it if he hadn't returned her affections, so she had stayed quiet and watched as he went out with other women. And just like Lina, she had run away instead of dealing with it, quietly stepping away from Gippal's life without so much as a goodbye.

"He loves you," she said quietly.

"I know. Which is why I won't marry him." She looked down, her hands clenched tightly in her lap. "I don't want him to wind up dead as well."

Rikku stared at her. "What? Do you honestly think that the two people you cared for died because they loved you?"

"It isn't that hard to believe, especially since they wouldn't have died if they hadn't known me."

Rikku shook her head. "That's crazy. It wasn't like you were the one that killed them. That boy died in a fiend attack, which is pretty common in the desert, even now with beefed up patrols. Pop's been trying to make things safer for everyone in New Home, but the fiends attack just like they've always done. And Sin was _everywhere_. It was hard _not_ to get into an attack." Knowing what Sin actually was made her wince at her next words. "It was a mindless killer; destruction was just something that it _did_.

"Things happen; there wasn't anything that you could have done to prevent them from dying and you didn't do anything that caused their deaths. Everyone dies; it was just their time."

Lina bit her lip. "It's easy for you to say that."

Rikku shrugged. "And you're totally underestimating Rin. The guy bounces back from everything; he's lived with you for how many years and survived?" She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "He really misses you. He looks terrible from just a month away, think about how much worse he'd be if you stay away any longer."

Now it was Lina's turn to look at Rikku critically. "Probably as bad as my son did when you left him."

Rikku tilted her head. "Gippal wasn't that bad off; he didn't have time to think about me with all the girls that he dated."

"Why do you think he dated so many? They weren't you." Lina paused and reached out to touch Rikku's hand. "He's loved you for as long as he's known you. It hurt him more than he would let on when you disappeared from his life."

Rikku blinked. "He doesn't love me." He _couldn't_. "I mean, I know he _likes_ me, but…"

"Honey, I've known you since before you were born. I consider you a very bright woman, but when it comes to Gippal, you have a severe blind spot. He loves you. The question is, do you love him?"

Rikku felt as if her heart was doing summersaults inside her body. Opening and closing her mouth several times, her mind flashed back to the past month. All the times she and Gippal had spent, the way that he looked at her, the way she felt about him, how she loved waking up next to him, everything. "Oh," she whispered, realization making her hot and cold all at the same time. "I have to go." She stood up, her knees wobbly. "Talk to Rin. He deserves some sort of explanation."

"I will, if you tell my son how you feel about him."

"That's where I was going in the first place."

* * *

Gippal stared at his desk. It was _too_ orderly. The distinct lack of paperwork overflowing made concentrating on the legal wording of the contract he was working on difficult. Tapping the pencil he held in his hand against his teeth, he crossed out several lines and pondered how to reword them.

"Hey, how did things go with Mom?" he asked, looking up when he saw the door open and Rikku stand in the threshold. He frowned when all she did was stand and stare at him as if she hadn't seen him before in her life. "Rikku?"

"Did you date all those girls because I left?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

"What?"

"Four years ago. Did you date all those girls everyone at Home said you dated because I left?"

"Who told you that?"

"Your mother."

Gippal rubbed at the back of his head. "I thought we'd already talked about this. No jealousy, remember?"

She shook her head. "This isn't about jealousy, Gippal. It's about if you loved me before or not." She swallowed hard. "It's about if you love me now."

He stood up. "Back then, I tried to get a feel for how you felt about me. Every time I tried to let you know that I was interested, you gave me the vibe that you weren't into starting a relationship past anything resembling friendship.

"I'm not gonna lie; when you fell off the planet, it really hurt. It made me feel like you didn't value our friendship as much as I had thought you did."

"That's not why I left," she told him.

"Then why did you?" Before, he had just accepted that she had walked away. He figured that she had her own reasons and wasn't going to press her to explain, but now that she was bringing things up, he wanted to know. Moving so that he was standing in front of her, he asked, "What made you leave me? Leave us?"

She stared up at him. "I never knew you were interested in me. I just thought that you were always teasing. When you kept on seeing other girls, it _hurt_. I…" she bit her lip and looked him in the eye. "I loved you too much to just sit back and pretend I was happy being just a friend. That's why I left."

He took a step backward, as if her news was a physical blow. "You loved me?"

"Since I was ten. Probably even before that. I've _always_ been in love with you, you dope."

She should have expected him to react to the news in a positive light, seeing that Lina had told her that Gippal loved her, but the fierce hug that he gave her still took her breath away. She felt his hands fist into the fabric of her shirt, sighed at the way he buried his face against her throat. "You love me," she heard him mutter, his words muffled by her skin.

"I'm so sorry I left for so long," she whispered, her throat tight as she slid her arms over his shoulders, her fingers in his hair. "I'm so, so sorry."

He lifted his head and let her go long enough to frame her face with both his hands as he kissed her, long and deep. "I'm sorry I never told you how much I loved you before," he said, his lips brushing against hers with every word.

"So, new rule?" She held onto him tightly, her head against his chest. "No matter what, we let the other know what we're thinking so there's no more confusion."

He pressed his cheek against the crown of her head, her hair soft against his skin. "I can live with that." His hands slid down the bare skin of her arms and he enjoyed the fact that she shivered and that it was _his_ touch that made her respond that way. Tangling his fingers with hers, he brought her hand up to his lips for a kiss.

"E muja oui," he said, knowing then that he'd never get tired of telling her that.

Rikku smiled. No matter what, she'd never get tired of hearing him say it either.


	12. Chapter 12

Title: Of Bad Gil Pieces and Airships (12/12)

Rating: G

Words: 2870

Note: To quote the first lines of this chapter, well, I'd have to say she's finished. This started out as a very short one-shot that morphed into something almost but not quite 50,000 words and took a little over a year to complete. I wanted to see if I could do something with these two that was more of a day-in-the-life slice of their lives instead of saving the world from some big bad guy while still exploring their relationship. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this and I especially wanted to thank everyone at quitethecouple over on LJ for voting this as the story with the most potential. And thank you 1frickengirl for your helpful critiques, you really made editing this thing a lot easier.

And now that the longest note I've ever written is finished, on with the story.

* * *

"Well," Rikku said, leaning back as they looked at their work. "I'd have to say, she's finished."

"Not quite." Gippal held up a decorative piece of metalwork in his hand. "You want to do the honors?"

Rayne shook his head. "She's your ship now; you go ahead." He stuck his hands in his back pockets, his expression wistful. He had completed what he had set out to do; now he was ready to go. "You know, I never asked. What are you going to name her?"

Gippal looked at Rikku, who looked blankly back at him. "I never really thought about it. Any ideas?"

"I've got nothing." She turned to Rayne. "What _did_ you name your ship?"

Rayne shrugged. "What every guy names his ship when they're in a good relationship: after their girlfriend. I know its clichéd sounding, but it worked." He ran his hand over the side of the metal. "She was trustworthy and took good care of me wherever I was going. It fit."

Gippal made a hrm noise and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll think about it." He stuck his fists on his hips. "What say we get you to Zanarkand then?"

Rayne's face split into a beaming grin. "I'd really like that."

But before they could get onboard, Rikku stopped them. "Look," she said, pointing towards a hover coming down the road. The lone driver spotted them and slowed down.

"Hey Rin," Gippal said as Rin stopped beside them. "Mom's in the temple, if you're looking for her."

Rin nodded. Gippal noticed that he looked much better than he had been the last time he had seen him; his hair was back in its familiar style and his face was once again clean shaven. If there were dark circles under his eyes, it wasn't because of lack of sleep due to worrying about Lina, it was because the two of them had been spending the last week staying up until the small hours of the morning talking via the commsphere network. Gippal might not have eavesdropped _much_, but Rikku had informed him after standing with her ear at his office door that it sounded as if the two of them were getting back to where they had once been and then some. Spending all this time apart had made them realize that they might have known the other very well, but that there were still some things that Rin hadn't known about Lina and vice versa.

Rin tugged at the sleeve of his coat and smoothed a hand over his hair. "You look great," Rikku assured him, giggling at the sight of someone that was normally the most together person she knew taken down several notches by nerves.

"Let's just hope that she thinks the same," he said, killing the engine and stepping off the hover. He didn't have to wait long, because the temple door opened and Lina started walking down the steps. Rikku felt Gippal put his arm around her shoulder as they watched Rin go up to Lina. They watched as Lina stared up at him, her hands clasped together in front of her. The two of them stared at the other for a long while without saying anything, then Rin reached out and enveloped Lina in a passionate kiss.

"Wow. Go Rin," Gippal said, whistling low as Lina wrapped her arms around Rin's shoulders and laughed as Rin picked her up and spun her around. Rikku could see that Lina was saying something to him in between kisses, but she couldn't make anything out. Rin was shaking his head, his body language saying that it didn't matter, that he was just happy to be there with her again. He took her hand and led her down the road and towards where Gippal and Rikku stood.

"Well," Lina said somewhat breathlessly as they reached the hover, "thank you for letting me stay here, son, but I think it's time that I got back home."

"It was good having you here, but I'm kinda glad you're leaving." He gave her a crooked smile. "Now I can get back to work messing my office up."

She hugged him. "Brat."

"I try my best. See you later, _Sudran_." Gippal let her go and clasped Rin's forearm. "Take good care of her."

Rin nodded. "You don't have anything to worry about there."

"Nope, I never did." The three of them waved goodbye as Rin turned the hover around, Lina sitting behind him with her arms around his waist.

"So," Gippal said to Rayne, watching as the hover became a small speck in the distance. "What do you say about taking that flight?"

Rayne's face broke out into a huge smile. "I'd say that it sounds like a great idea." Reflexively, he caught the keys that Gippal tossed his way.

"Kind of fitting," Gippal said, walking up the boarding ramp after Rikku. "Thought you'd like to take her for one last spin."

Rayne settled into the pilot's seat and looked out the windshield. A few practiced flicks of his wrists had the engines roaring to life and the ship off the ground. "You guys did a great job getting this bird back to her original shape, but I bet you never really thought to open her up."

Gippal grabbed the back of Rikku's chair as the ship went into a smooth roll, the sky blurring before them. "I thought you flew merchant ships," Rikku squeaked, her knuckles white on her armrests.

Rayne smirked, his hand throwing another gear. "Only in my spare time. The rest of the time I was a stunt pilot."

* * *

"I've got to warn you," Rikku said as they came towards the borders of Zanarkand. "It doesn't look the same way that you remember."

Rayne nodded. "I know. I kind of figured that if there had been a devastating attack like you said there had been that hardly any of the original buildings would still be standing." They flew over the first few ruins and he sucked in a sharp breath. "But no matter how many times I told myself that, it sure didn't prepare me. Damn."

"Aya said that she'd be waiting for us near the old Blitz dome up ahead," Gippal told him. There should be a decent landing spot right before we reach it."

Rayne seemed to melt into the pilot chair, his back sinking into the material. "See that ruin right there?" he asked, pointing to a spot. The only recognizable thing still sticking out of the water was a slab of stone. "That used to be the office to the shipping company I worked for. The first thing I'd have to do once I got finished with a job would be to report there. The secretary that worked days was a stickler for getting mileage reports and fuel receipts on time." He made a slow circle over the place before moving on.

"I know it doesn't look like much now," he whispered, staring out at the pyreflies that were zooming around everywhere. "But this city used to be one of the greatest places in Spira. You should have seen it at night, when it was all lit up and everything. The crowds never really stopped."

"I saw it once, a long time ago," Rikku said, remembering how she had briefly glimpsed the flurry of activity in Guadosalam during Yuna's pilgrimage. "It really was great."

"That's where Aya's shop used to be," Rayne pointed out, a smile settling on his face. "She made the _best_ chocolate cream pie anywhere, and she always had a pot of fresh coffee waiting for all the pilots that came in after their runs were done."

They finally came to the Blitz stadium and found a decent landing spot. For once the place wasn't covered with monkeys. Rayne pulled up on a lever and the three of them heard the landing gears smoothly shift into place. "Well," Rayne said, looking at Gippal and Rikku. "This is it."

"I'm glad that we were able to do this for you," Rikku told him, her throat suddenly tightening up. She hated goodbyes, especially since in the short time that she had known him, Rayne had become a friend. She reached out and hugged him hard before stepping away.

"And I'm grateful to you, to you both." He stood and went towards the loading bay doors. "It was nice working with you, Gippal. You've got one hell of an operation going."

"Shame that I'm going to lose a fine mechanic," Gippal said gruffly, clasping Rayne's offered hand.

"Too bad you weren't around a couple of hundred years ago or so. You'd have had an empire of mechanics around."

Gippal shrugged. "I'm getting there. Just give me some time."

Rayne walked down the rocky path leading to the dome entrance. Pyreflies seemed to notice his presence and swarmed around him, wreathing him in multicolored light with every step. "There she is," he said, turning his head to look back at the two of them a few steps behind. "Isn't my girl beautiful?"

Aya materialized next to a great pile of rubble, her hands pressed together at her chest. "Hey there stranger," she said softly. "I was starting to worry that you'd never show up." Her tone was teasing, contrasting to the relieved look on her face.

Rayne gave her an apologetic glance. "Sorry it took me a few centuries to get back home after my last trip." He framed her face with his hands, his forehead touching hers. "Can you forgive me?"

She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Oh, I think so."

"So, does that mean we're still on for that date I promised you once I got back?"

Aya rocked up to her tiptoes and kissed him. "You'd better believe it." They both turned towards Rikku and Gippal and waved. Rikku waved back as Gippal slung an arm around her shoulders. The two of them watched as Rayne and Aya walked hand in hand towards the dome, vanishing together in a swirl of color.

"You think that they're still there?" Gippal asked.

Rikku shook her head. "No, I think they moved on. After all, the only thing they were waiting for was to be together again." She sniffled a little and wiped the side of her face with her palm. She always had been a sucker for romance.

Gippal took her hand in his. "Then why don't we follow their example? Come on, let's go home."

* * *

The roar of the surf made a pleasant background noise for the ceremony taking place along the southern tip of the Djose shore. Seated in the front row, Yuna dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief while Tidus held a snoozing Jecht. Next to them, Paine tried to act indifferent, but a small smile curved her lips. Baralai caught her look and playfully elbowed her, which made her scowl before elbowing him right back. Nooj hid his laugh at his friend's discomfort behind a cough; obviously Paine had put a little more force into her blow than Baralai had in his.

A row back, little Vidina was tugging at his clothes, clearly uncomfortable in more formal wear. His father put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but Wakka wasn't any better off. Every few seconds he would run a finger around the collar of his shirt as if it would give him any more breathing room. Vidina was about to voice his complaints at being forced to wear something so scratchy, but a scathing look from Lulu was enough warning to get both father and son to sit still until the ceremony was over. In front of the spectators, Cid took the hands of the couple and solemnly spoke a few words in Al Bhed. Dressed up officially for once, he looked every part the leader of his people. Raising his hands, he addressed the crowd.

"Well, that's it. They're hitched."

The rowdy party afterwards was in sharp contrast to the formal ceremony and lasted long into the night. Rikku walked around one of the large bonfires that partygoers had lit; a drink in her hands.

"Hey," she halfheartedly protested when someone reached out from behind her and swiped the bottle out of her fingers.

"Thanks," Gippal said, tipping the bottle to his lips. "Great turn-out, huh?"

"I'll say. I bet half of Bikanel showed up."

"More than half, not to mention a bunch of people from Luca and around here."

Rikku took his hand, watching as the light from the bonfire made shadows lick over them. "They look really happy, don't they?"

Gippal grinned and looked over to where the bride and groom stood. His mother's hair was covered in little white flowers and she looked much younger than Gippal had ever seen her look. Rin was laughing at something one of the guests was saying to them, one of his arms loosely wrapped about Lina's waist. "They do." He sat down and gently tugged on Rikku's hand to get her to do the same. "Your dad did a good job officiating. I've never seen him look so serious."

Rikku laughed. "He moans and groans about having to do stuff like this, but I think he secretly likes doing all the important official things he's expected to do. The grump is just for show."

He set his stolen drink down in the sand next to him. "I'm all for tradition, but what do you say about skipping all the fancy stuff and eloping instead?" he asked nonchalantly.

Rikku's eyebrows rose up to her hairline. Turning so she was looking at him, she tilted her head. "Is that a proposal?"

He echoed her smile. "Maybe."

She tapped her chin with her index finger. "Well, then I might say…"

He cupped her cheek with his hand. "You might say what?"

The smirk she gave him was downright mischievous. "_Maybe_."

He brushed his lips against hers. "You're impossible to live with, you know."

"But you love me anyway."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, babe." They stayed there by the water for a long while, just watching as the party started to break up. Somewhere along the way, Rikku had fallen asleep on his shoulder, her breath stirring his hair at his neck. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. The movement caused her to stir and yawn.

"Hey," he whispered, watching as the caterers from Luca packed up the last of their gear and waved to him on their way out.

"Hey." She yawned again and snuggled closer to him. "What time is it?"

Gippal looked up at the sky. "Somewhere around three, I guess. You wanna get out of here?"

Rikku stood up and held out her hands to help him up. "The temple's pretty crowded, what with everybody staying over. And you were the one that let Nooj and Paine take your drafting room." _That_ had been news to her; apparently Rikku had been out of the gossip loop long enough to miss that LeBlanc and Nooj had a nasty break-up. How he had quietly avoided the press about the new relationship he had taken up with Paine was beyond Rikku. She was determined to corner Paine sometime soon and find out, no matter how many respect points it cost her.

The jingle of metal sounded as he twirled a key ring around his finger. "We have an airship, remember?" He grinned wickedly at her. "And I have it on good authority that there's a bed built for two on board." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Rikku reached out and snatched the keys out of his hand. "So what are we waiting for?"

He made a move to get the keys back from her, but she danced out of his reach. "For you to give those back; I'm driving."

She shook her head. "No way. I thought we had a deal – I'm the navigator and you're the engineer."

"That happens to also be the captain. Gimme."

"I don't remember voting you captain, and _I'm_ flying. Besides, you named it after me, I figure that gives me reason enough to pilot." Okay, so their ship wasn't _The Rikku_, or anything, but _Lady Luck_ and the decorative metal club next to the name was enough of a connection for her.She giggled as she walked backwards, the keys dangling in front of him. Unfortunately, she didn't take into account that there were logs still out on the sand that partygoers had used as impromptu seats. Rikku let out a squeak as she felt herself falling backwards, but Gippal caught her before she landed on her behind.

"I tell you what," he said in his best diplomatic voice, his lips a breath away from hers. "Why don't we put it on auto-pilot and make better use of our time?"

"Then I'd have to say," she told him, running her fingers through his hair, "that you've got yourself a deal." Her eyes fluttered closed as she sealed their bargain with a kiss.

She didn't even mind it when she felt his hands take the keys from her slack fingers.

The End.


End file.
